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THE 
 
 OLD SOUTH LEAFLETS. 
 
 SEVENTH SERIES, 
 
 1889. 
 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE. 
 
 1889. 
 

41>iti ^outf) HcarirtjSi. 
 
 SKVENTH SERIKS, iHSy. 
 
 Ni). I. 
 
 Verrazzano's 
 Voyage. 
 
 1524. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOMX Dli VKUkAZ/.A\() TO HIS MOST SKRENK 
 MAJKS'IY, THk' KING OK KKANCIF, WKITKS: 
 
 Since the tempests which we encountered on the northern 
 coasts, I have not written to your most Serene and Christian 
 Majesty concerning the four ships sent out by your orders on 
 the ocean to discover new lands, because I tiiouglit you must 
 have been before apprized of ail that had happened to us — that 
 we had been compelled by the impetuous violence of the winds 
 to put intc Britany in distress with only the two ships Normandy 
 and D( Iphin ; and that after having repaired these ships, we 
 made a cruise in them, well armed, along the coast of Spain, 
 as your Majesty must have heard, and also of our new plan of 
 continuing our begun voyage with the Dolphin alone ; from this 
 voyage being now returned, I proceed to give your Majesty an 
 account of our discoveries. 
 
 On the 17th of last January we set sail from a desolate rock 
 near the island of Madeira, belonging to his most Serene Ma- 
 jesty, the King of Portugal, with fifty men, having provisions 
 sufficient for eight months, arms and other warlike munition and 
 naval stores. Sailing westward with a light and pleasant east- 
 erly breeze, in twenty-five days we ran eight hundred leagues. 
 On the 24th of February we encountered as violent a hurricane 
 as any ship ever weathered, from which we escaped unhurt by 
 the divine assistance and goodness, to the praise of the glorious 
 and fortunate name of our good ship, that had been able to 
 support the violent tossing of the waves. Pursuing our voyage 
 towards the West, a little northwardly, in twenty-four days 
 more, having run four hundred leagues, we reached a new coun- 
 try, which had never before been seen by any one, either in 
 ancient or modern times. At first it appeared to be very low, 
 
but on approaching it to withi:i a quarter of a league from the 
 shore we perceived, by the great fires near the coast, that it was 
 inhabited. We perceived tha. it siretciied to the south, and 
 coasted along in tiial direction in search of some port, in wiiich 
 we might come to anciior, and examine into the nature of the 
 country, but for fifty leagues we could find none in which we 
 could lie securely. Seeing tiie coast still stretch to the south, 
 we resolved to change our course and stand to the northward, 
 and as \vc still had the same dilliculty, we drew in with the 
 land and sent a boat on shore. Many people wlio were seen 
 coming to the sea-side fled at our approach, but occasionally 
 stopping, they looked back upon us with astonishment, and 
 some were at length induced, by various friendly signs, to come 
 to US}. These showed the greatest delight on beholding us, 
 wondering at our dress, countenances and complexion. They 
 then showed us by signs where we could more conveniently 
 secure our boat, and offered us some of their provisions. Thai 
 your Majesty may know all that we learned, while on shore, of 
 their manners and customs of life, I will relate what we saw as 
 briefly as possible. They go entirely naked, except that about 
 the loins they wear skins of small animals like martens fastened 
 by a girdle of plaited grass, to which they tie, all round the body, 
 the tails of other animals hanging down to the knees; all other 
 parts of the body and the head are naked. Some wear gar- 
 lands similar to birds' feathers. 
 
 The complexion of these people is black, not much different 
 from that of the Ethiopians ; their hair >s black and thick, and 
 not very long ; it is worn tied back upon the head in the form of 
 a little tail. In person they are of good proportions, of middle 
 stature, a little above our own, broad across the breast, strong 
 in the arms, and well formed in the legs and other parts of the 
 body ; the only exception to their good looks is that they have 
 broad faces, but not all, however, as we saw many that had 
 sharp ones, with large black eyes and a fixed expression. They 
 are not very strong in body, but acute in mind, active and swift 
 of foot, as far as we could judge by observation. In these last 
 two particulars they resemble the people of the east, especially 
 those the most remote. We could not learn a great many par- 
 ticulars of their usages on account of our short stay among 
 them, and the distance of our ship from the shore. 
 
 We found not far from this people another whose mode of 
 life we judged to be s'milar. The whole shore is covered with 
 fine sand, abort fifteen feet thick, rising in the form of little hills 
 
jue from the 
 i[, that it was 
 e south, and 
 lort, in wliich 
 nature of the 
 in which we 
 to tlie south. 
 10 northward, 
 w in with the 
 ho were seen 
 t occasionally 
 liihmcnt, and 
 iigns, to come 
 beholding us, 
 lexion. They 
 conveniently 
 visions. Thai 
 ; on shore, of 
 lat we saw as 
 ept that about 
 irtens fastened 
 ound the body, 
 ees; all other 
 ome wear gar- 
 much different 
 and thick, and 
 in the form of 
 ions, of middle 
 breast, strong 
 ler parts of the 
 that they have 
 many that had 
 iression. They 
 .ctive and swift 
 In these last 
 east, especially 
 reat many par- 
 rt stay among 
 e. 
 
 whose mode of 
 covered with 
 )rm of little hills 
 
 of the cnmmunity, and not for the particular benefit of tho per- 
 sons to \vlu)ni it is intrusted. 
 
 13. A common C()iUril)Ution being necessary for the sup- 
 port of tiie pnl)lic force, and foi defraying the otluT expenses of 
 governmenl, it ouj^ht to be divided oipially aninii^r il^. mcinbers 
 of the coniniuiiity according tf) tluMr al)ilities. 
 
 14. Every (.ilizen lias a ri,t;ht, either by himself or his lepre- 
 sentative, to a free voice in determining the necessity of public 
 contributions, the appr()pri;;ti()n of them, and their amount, 
 mode of assessment, and duration. 
 
 15. Every coiiimunity has a right to demand of all its 
 agents an account of tiieir conduct. 
 
 16. Every cnmnuuiity in which a separation of powers and 
 a security of rights is not i^rovided for, wants a constitution. 
 
 17. 'I'he rigiit to propoily being inviolable and sacred, no 
 one ought to be di'prixed of it, except in rases of evident public 
 necessity, legally ascertained, and on condition of a previous 
 just indeninity. 
 
 When I.af.iyeUe, al tlie (lose of the .American war, reliirneil to I'aris, he 
 luing in a handsoini' frame upon one of the walls of his lionse a copy of the 
 Declaration of liuiupentli-nce, leavinig the corresponding space on the (jpposile 
 wall vacant. " What do yon design to place here.' " asked one ot his 
 friends. "The Declaration of kif^hls for I'rance," was his reply. 
 
 \o man was more inlhienti.d in the earlv months of the Krench Revolu- 
 tion than Lafayette. Ilis intimate re'ation with the American republic, to 
 which the liberals m !'"rance were looking as an actual realization of their 
 dreams, was one great source of tnat iiilluence. When Lafayette entered the 
 .Assembly of the Stales (leneral in the summer of 17X9. the hitherto unknown 
 dignity of vice-president was cieatetl expressly to bestow it upon him. It 
 was on the llth of July, rjSy, that he p'ojiosed in the .Assembly that a dec- 
 larati )n of the rii;/i/s of ntiiii should be issued, on the American model. A 
 long debate with much dissension followed, and there were many amend- 
 ments ; and it was not until the 37th of August that the famous Dechtialioii 
 of ihe Kii^lits of Man, in the form in which it is known to history, was 6om- 
 pleted. It was prepar.ilory t(j the work of forming the new constitution. 
 ' Von Sybel devotes a special chapter to it in his History of'///,- /■'yciuli KtTo- 
 lu'ioii, and the student can consult the other histories and the lives of Lafay- 
 ette 
 
 " I date the Krench Revolution," said the publicist Cerutti, " from the 
 moment when .M. de Lafayet'e in heroic flight rushed forth from our 
 ports and, in a way, opened to the young soldiers of I'rance the school 
 of American liberty. It was there, as Nir. Jet'ferson has very well said, that 
 our great battles were fought. In favoring the freedom of the thirteen 
 United States, we have prepared om- own. The valiant hands that served to 
 break a tyrannic chain were not made to bear one a long time themselves." 
 
 Even before the eventful night of the 4th of .August, the Assembly had 
 taken under consideration a Declaration of the Rights of Man which was to 
 
preface tlii;ir Constltiitioii. I.afavetti' w.w iu lu idiiii; advocate ; those who 
 h.id sLTvod ill Amiiiri wltc, almost wilhoiit oxcipliipii, in favor nf it, and 
 the idea itscll WIS i^ciiLially h)ol<fd upon as ol' Anii'iiran origin. Sorne of 
 I'W iiieinl)cr> iir^ <l its ad<i|)tioii huforu thr draft ol thr ( 'onstitiiliou ; others 
 thought ihi; I )eclaraiioii should iiol he issiiiil until .ift.M the Constitution had 
 been ( oiiipk t<'il. 
 
 " I hen you to iclluct," said Tollciidal, " how uiiorinous is the diffpreiice 
 hetweeii an inlaiit people which has just liuiii aiiiioiiueed to the woild, a 
 colonial people, ihal hashrokun the bonds of a distant ^joveruinent, and an 
 aiiiient and nii};hly leading; people that fourteen hundred years ■^j^n gave 
 itself a form ot ^overumenl and which since el^ht centuries ohavs the same 
 dvnisiii linel" The Archbishop of liordeaux sujiported l.afavette. "This 
 noble iilea," said he, " conceived in another heinlspheie, necessarilv and by 
 preference c.iuie over to us. We have taken part in the events that have 
 given North Anijrica its libertv, and North America shows us upoi\ what 
 principles we must insist in order to preserve our own." 
 
 Count Malhien de Montininency, who h. id fought for the libertv of the 
 United Stales, de^netl, first of all, a I )eclaraliin like Iheoneof I'hil.idelphia. 
 " It is important to declare the rights of inin before the constitution, because 
 the conslitnlion is n othiiif; but the sei|uence, ihe end of this Declaration. 
 Tlii.s is a truth whicii the e.v.imple of .Vmeric a has rendered very ])lain. . . 
 The United Slates h.ive ).;iveii a great example to the new hemisphere. Let 
 US give It to the universe!" 
 
 .Maloiiet thoUfiht that the oft-cited eximple of Airi'.'rica was not 
 pertinent and could not be followed In P'rance. .Vnierica, he ar.nned, is a 
 new countrv. I'roprieiors there are not oiilv e pi il before the law, but little 
 given to Inxurv, Ignorant of the exiremvs of poverty, ll<4htlv t.ixed, free from 
 prejudice, and possessors of land without a trace of leudalilv. Such men 
 were made tor a democracy, for declarations of rights such as you propo.se 
 them. We are not. 
 
 Mir.ibeau was against making the Declaration too abstract and nieta- 
 |)liyslcal. Speak inevery-dav language, he counseled, ni.ikeyour Declaration 
 plain. " Thus ti,ie Americans have m ide their I )eclarallons of Riirlits. They 
 purposelv set aside all sclentilic verbi.ige. I'hey presente I the truths which 
 it was their jiurpose to lix. In a f.nni th.il could be ciisllv grasped bv the 
 people, whom alone liberty regards and who alone can niilntaiii it." 
 
 Kabaut de Saint luieniie, a correspond'-nt of |elferson and one of the 
 f.ecjuenters of his house, pronomiced himscilf in favor of the Declaration, 
 though with certain reservations. " The circumstatiees of l''rance and 
 Aineric.i are dilferent. .\merica broke with a (llslant metropolis, .\merica 
 was a new country that destroyed all in order to renew all. .And yet there 
 is a point of resemblance between lis. Like the Americans we wish tn 
 regenerate." 
 
 Lacretelle says in his " llistoire de P.^ssemblee Consdtuante," '' nat 
 while mist of the generals and oliieers who had taken part in the Ai',erican 
 war followed the t.-xainple ot \Ir. de Lafavelle, the .\l.ir(|uis de I'oaille was 
 eager onlv to deliver the king frcni, the voke of the Revolution." Il was an 
 exception therefore for a French Cincinnatus at that time to oppose the 
 liberal tendencies of the epo h. 
 
 " The gre.ilest part of the gentlemen democrats who abandoned their 
 order in i7iS9, who joined the ("onimons, who proposed the Declaration of 
 Rights, who directed the revolution against the aiiricii r,'i;;iiiu- .... had 
 made their revoluti(mary studies in the United States." These are the 
 words of Soiilavie. — From Rosenthal's Ameiim ,uid /■'liiiice. 
 
 / 
 
;iitc ; those who 
 favor (if it, ami 
 linin. Some of 
 
 tillllinll; otllflS 
 
 Jiinstitiitioii hail 
 
 Ih the difference 
 (o the World, a 
 rniiieiil, and an 
 years a^o gave 
 ihdvs the same 
 fayette. "This 
 :i'ssarilv and by 
 ■vents that have 
 i us ii|)oii what 
 
 le liberty of the 
 111 I'hiladelpliia. 
 itntioii, because 
 his Deelaratioii. 
 d very ])lain. . . 
 :nu.spliere. Let 
 
 lerica was not 
 he arf^iiod, is a 
 e law, but little 
 :axed, free from 
 ity. Such men 
 as you propose 
 
 tract and meta- 
 oiir I lechuation 
 i R'^\htn. They 
 he trullis which 
 grasped bv the 
 iiu it." 
 
 and one of the 
 he Declaration, 
 if I'rance and 
 polls, .\merica 
 .And yet there 
 \ns we wish tr> 
 
 ituante," '' nat 
 n the Ai-,ericaM 
 
 (le lio.iilli' was 
 ■n." It was an 
 
 to opi)ose the 
 
 ibandoned their 
 
 Declaration of 
 
 'i/il- .... had 
 
 These are the 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 / 
 
 Till'. Ol.i) .SoiTTII I.K.M-i.KTS arc prepared primarily for circulation 
 amoiiK the attendants upon the Old South Lectures for Young I'eople. The 
 subjects of the Leaflets are immediately rcl.ited to the subjects of the lectures, 
 and they arc intended to supplement the lectures and stimulate historical 
 interest and in(|uiry amonjj; the young people. They are made up, for the 
 most part, from original papers of the periods treated in the lectures, in the 
 hope to make the men and the public life of the periods more clear and real. 
 
 The Old South Lectures for Young I'eople were instituted in the sum- 
 mer of i,S.S3, .IS a means of promoting a more serious and intelligent atten- 
 tion to historical studies, especially studies in American history, among the 
 young people of Moston. The success of the lectures h.as been so great .is 
 to warrant the hope that such courses may be permanently sustained in 
 Boston and established with equal success in other cities of the count 
 
 The Old South Lectures for 1.S83, intended to be strictly upon subjects 
 in early Massachusetts History, but by certain necessities .somewhat mod- 
 ified, were as follows; " (Jovernor Hra<lford and Covernor Winthrop," 
 by KinviN 1). Me,\d. " I'lymouth," by Mrs. A. M. Di.az. "Concord," 
 by Frank H. Saniiorn. "The Town- Meeting," by I'rok. Jamks K. 
 HosMKR. " Kranklin, the Hoston Hoy," by Okdrck M. Tovvi.k. "How 
 to Study American History," by I'rok. (1. Siani.kv Hai.i.. "The \'car 
 •777." l>y John FisKK. "History in the Boston Streets," by Kdward 
 EVEKKTT Hai.e. The Leafl<'' . .)repared in connection with these lectures 
 consisted of (i) Cotton Mathei's account of Covernor Br.adford, from the 
 " .Magnalia; " (2) the account of the arrival of the Pilgrims at Cape Cod, 
 from Bradford's Journal ; (3) an e.xtract from Kmerson's Concord Address 
 '" ''*^35! (4) f-'xtracts from Kmerson, Sanuiel Adaiis, De Toc(|ueville and 
 others, upon the Town- Meeting; (5) a portion of Franklin's Autobiography ; 
 (6) Carlyle on the Study of History; (7) an extract from tlharles Sumner's 
 oration upon Lafayette, etc. ; (8) Kmerson's poem, " Boston." 
 
 The lectures for 1.SS4 were devoted to men representative of certa'" 
 epochs or ideas in the history of Boston, .is follows: " Sir Harry Vane, i». 
 New England and in Old England," by Ebward Everett Hale, Jr. 
 "John Harvard, and the Founding of Harvard College," by Edward 
 Channing, Ph.D. " The Mather E'amily, and the (Jld Boston Ministers," 
 by Rev. Samuel J. Barro\v.s. "Simon Bradstreet, and the Struggle for 
 
till' Charttr," l)v Vkhv. Marsiiam, S. Snow. " Samiii'l Adanin, and the 
 llrniiiiiiiin (it llic kivolutioii," l>y I'Koi-. J\Ml:s K. IIdsmtk. " Jnsiah 
 (Jiiiiuv, the (Irt'at Muyor," by Ciiahi.ks W. S;,\ik. " Panicl Webster, 
 tliij hcfeiulir n|' ihf (oiisliliition," by CiiakI.I-s (_'. CuKllN. "John A. 
 Anihe«, llic (iriat War ( ;ov<rii()r," by Cnl,. I'. W. IlKictNsoN. The 
 I.eallets prepared in cimneition with the second i onrse were as follnv s : 
 |l) Selections from Forster's essav on \'ane, ete. ; (;;) an extrael from 
 Cotton Mather's "Sal (lentinni;" (]) Increase Mather's "Narrative of 
 the Miseries of \ew iMi^iand ; " (4) an original account ol' " 'I'he Kevohition 
 in New Ijigland " in i(kS(); (5) a letter Iroin Sanine! Adams to John Adams, 
 on Kepulilican (iovernmenl; (6) extracts Ironi Josiah (Jnincy's lioston 
 Address of iS 50 ; (7) Words of Webster ; (S) i portion of ( iovernor Andrew's 
 Address to the Massac iiusetts I.ej;islatnrc in January, 1S61. 
 
 The lectures for i.SS^ were upon " The War for the I'nion," as follows : 
 "Slavery," by Wll.l.lAM I l.oYD (;akkIS()N, Jk. "The l''all ol Sumter," 
 by Cot,. '!'. W. MicciNsoN. "The Monitor and the Merriniac," by 
 ClIARl.K.s C. t'ltri'lN. "The battle of (icttysluir^," by t'ol.. TllKoDoKF, 
 A. I)i)I)(;k. " Sherman's March to the Sea," by (Ikn. Wll.l.lAM Cociswki.l. 
 "The Saniiary Commission," by Mks. Makv A. Livkkmiirk. "Abraham 
 Lincoln," liy Hon. John I). I.onc. "(leneral (irant," by i'iiari.ks C. 
 t'oKKIN. The I.eadets accompanviii(.; these lectures were as follows; (1) 
 Lowell's " Present Crisis," and Harrison's Salutatory in the l.ilicintor of 
 January i, 1S51 ; (j) e.\tracl from llenrv Ward lleecher's oration at I'ort 
 Sumter in ICS65; (^) contemporary newspaper accounts of the ennaf.;(;ment 
 between tlie Monitor and tin .Merrimac; (.)) e.\lract from I'.dward Lverett's 
 address at llie consecration of the National ( emelery at (iettysburn, with 
 {'resident Lincoln's addre.s.s ; (5) e.xtract from (leneral Slierinan's account 
 of the March to the Sea, in his Memoirs; (6) Lowell's " Con\memoration 
 Ode;" (7) exlr;ict from Lincoln's Kirst lnaunur;d .\ddress, the Lmanci- 
 pation I'roclamation, and the Second Inau^ur.d Address ; (S) accouni of 
 tlie service in memory of (leneral ( Irant, in Westminster Al)bey, with Arch- 
 deacon h'arrar's address. 
 
 The lectures for 1.SS6 were upon " The War >r Independence," as 
 follows: "Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry," by LipWIN D. Mkad. 
 " bunker Hill, and the News in lOngland," by John Fiskk. "The Declar- 
 ation of Independence," by JAMKS M A<:.\i.isiKl<. " The Times that Tried 
 Men's Souls," by AljiKur li. Hart, Cll.l). " Lafayette, and Help from 
 France," by Prok. Marshai.i. S. Snow. "The Women of the Revolu- 
 tion," by Mrs. Mary .X. Livkrmork. " Wa-shington and his (lenerals," 
 bv CilloRdK M. Towi.i;. "The Lessons of tlie Revolution for these 
 -iines," by Rkv. Hrookk Hkrkord. The Leaflets were us fo]low.s: (1) 
 Words of Patrick Henry; (2) Lord Chatham's Speech, urging the removal 
 of the liritish troops from Hoston j (3) cvlract from Webster's oration on 
 Adams and Jefferson; (4) Thomas Panic's "Crisis," No. i; (5) extract 
 from Ldward lOverett's eulogy on Lafayette; (C) selections from the Letters 
 
5 
 
 •1 AdaniN, and the 
 IIdsmkk. "Jiisiah 
 " Daniel Wclwter, 
 PI 1 IN. " John A. 
 IIk.cinsiin. The 
 3 were as follov a : 
 ) an extrait from 
 jr's " Narrative of 
 if " 'I'he KevDlution 
 II1K til jiilin AdaiiiH, 
 1 Qiiiiuy's i!(istiin 
 lovernor Andrew's 
 
 L'nioM," as fiillows : 
 : Kail (if Sumter," 
 he iMerriinac," by 
 V Col.. TllKiiDDKE 
 ll.l lA.M fod.SWKI.L. 
 
 .iiiKK. ".Miiahain 
 
 " liy V IIAKl.K.S C. 
 re as follnws : (l) 
 n the /.ilviiilor of 
 r's orallon at Kort 
 >f the eiina^;eiiient 
 I'.dward Kverett's 
 t (lettysbnrn, with 
 Sherman's account 
 
 " ('(immeinoration 
 Ircss, the I'!mani:i- 
 ss ; (S) afcoiml of 
 
 .'Xbhey, with Arch- 
 
 Iiidepeiulence," as 
 KnwiN I). Mkai). 
 iK. " The Declar- 
 3 Times that Tried 
 te, and IIel|) trom 
 lun of tlie Revolu- 
 ai.d his (ienerals," 
 I'ohition for these 
 ere us follows : (l) 
 urging the removal 
 'ebster's oration on 
 No. I ; (5) extract 
 ns from the Ixtters 
 
 of Abigail Adams; (7) I.owpH'm " I'ndrr the < )hl V.\m ; " (S) cxlrai I from 
 Wliipiile'N ess.iv on " Washingtim and ilie rriiKi|iles of the Kevnlulinii." 
 
 The course for the summer of 1.S.S7 was upon " The lllitli of the 
 Nation," as follows : " lltiw the Men of the Knglish ( 'ommonwealth Planned 
 Constitutious," by I'ROK. J\Mi:.S K. IlosMKK. " I low the .\nicrii an Colo- 
 nies (Jrew 'I'ogelher," by JmiN (''iskk. "The ( iinfiislon aflii III" Kcvolu- 
 tion," by Davis K. Diavkv, I'ii.D. "The Convention and tin ( oiistiln- 
 tiim," l)v Hon. John D. Lunc "James Madison and his Jniirnal," by 
 I'RuK. K. I!. Andkiavs. " How ratrlik lleiirv Opposed the < 'mistitntion," 
 by IIkNKV I,. Siitn IIWICK. ".Mexaniler llamillun and the /■,,/, 1,1/ist." 
 "Washington's I'arl an I the Nation's Kirst \'ears," by Kuwakh Kvkkiii 
 IIai.K. The Leaflets prepare'l for these lectures were as follows: (11 
 Kxtract from I'ldward isverett Hale's lecture on " I'uritan I'olitics in 
 I'.ngland and New Kngland ; " (:;) "'I'he I'jiglish Colonies in America," 
 extract from De 'I'ocipieville's "Democracy in America;" ( 5I W.ish- 
 ingtiin's Circular Leitcr to the (Tovernors of the States, mi Disbiiiiding 
 the .\rniy; (.\) The Constitution of the United States; (j) "The l.ast Day 
 of the Constitutional ('(invention," from Madison's J.iiirniil ; (6) I'atrick 
 Henry's First Speech against the Constitntioti, in the Virginia Convention; 
 (7) The I'ederalist, \o. I\; (S) Washingion's First Inaugural Address, 
 
 The course for the summer of iSSS had the general lille of "The .Story 
 of the ("enturies," the several lectures luiiig a foP ws : " The < Ireal Schools 
 after the Dark Ages," by liPIIRAl.M I^MKRION, F'rofessor of HiE.;ory in 
 Harvard University. "Richard the l,ion-IIe;irted and the Crusades," bv 
 Miss Nina Mookk, author of " rilgrims and l'urit;ins." "The World 
 which Dante knew," by Sn\iri'iK O. IIahiwki.I., Old South lirsl-pri/e 
 essayist, iSS;,, "The .Morning-Star of the Keforniation," b\ KiA. I'llll.ll' 
 S. M(JX()M. "Copernicus and Columbus, or tlie New Heaven and the 
 New F.arth," by rRol'. I'.dvvarii S. Mousk. "The People for whom 
 Shakespeare wrote," by CHARLt;s DliDI.KV Waknku. "The Puritans and 
 the I'.nglish Revolution," by Ciiari.ks H. I.KVKKMoI'.K, Professor a'. tory 
 
 in the .Massaihnsells Institute of Technolou'V. "Lafayette and the Two 
 Revolutions which he saw," by (Ikokci'. Makki'I-ACF, Towi.k. 
 
 The Old South Lectures are devoted primarily to American history, 
 'iut this object is liberally construed, and a constant aim is to iniiiress upon 
 the young people the relations of our own Idslory to ICnglish and j^eiieral 
 Kurojiean history, and our indebtedness to the long past. It was hoped that 
 the gl.ince at some striking chapters in the history of the last eight centuries 
 afforded by these lectures would be ;i good preparation for the great anniver- 
 saries of lSS(^ and give the young people a truer feeling of the continuity of his- 
 tory. In connection with the lectures, tlie young people W'.;r(.- retpiesled to fix 
 in mind the following dates, observing that in most instances the date conies 
 about a decade before the close of the century. An effort was mad; in 
 the LeaHels for the year to make dales, which are so often dull and useless 
 to young peojile, interesting, significant, and useful. — nth Century: Lan- 
 
franc, the great iiiedixval scholar, who stucUcl law at Hologna was prior 
 of the monast-iry ot lice, the most famous school in Franc in the nth 
 century, and archlMshop of Canterbury under William the Lon(iueror, died, 
 1089. 12th Cent.; Richard I crowned, 1189. 13th Cent.: Dante at the 
 battle of Canipaldino, the final overthrow of the (Jhibellines in Italy, 1289. 
 14th Cent.: Wyclif died, 1384. 15th Cent.: America discovered, 1492. 
 '6th Cent. : Spanii-'h Armada, 1588. 17th Cent. : William of Orange lands 
 in Kngland, 1688. iSth Cent. : Washington inaugurated, and the liastije 
 fell, 1789. The Old South 1-enflets for 1S8S. corresponding with the several 
 lectures, were as follows : (i) "The Karly History of Oxford," from C.reen's 
 llistorv of Ihe Eiii^tish People; (2) "Richard Canir dc Lion and the Third 
 Crusade," from the C/ironhh' of Geoffrey de Vinsauf ; (3) "The Univer- 
 sal Kminre," pas.sages from Dante's /V Monarchia; (4) " The Sermon on 
 the Mount," Wyclif's translation; (5) "Copernicus and the Ancient 
 Astronomers," from Mumboldt'.s Cosmos; (6) "The Defeat of the Span- 
 ish Armada," from Camdeii's Annuls; (7) "The lUll of Rights," 1689; 
 (0) "The Kve of the French Revolution," from Carlvle. The selections 
 are accom|)anied by very full historical and bibliographical notes, and it is 
 ho|)ed that the series will i)rove of much service to students and teachers 
 engaged in the general survey of modern history. 
 
 Tlie year 1SS9 being the centennial both of the beginnhig of our own 
 Federal Government and of the French Revolution, the lectures for th< 
 year, under the general title of " America and France," were devoted en- 
 tirely to subjects in which the history of America is related to that of 
 France, as follows: " Champlain, the Founder of (^)uebec," by Charlks 
 C. CoKi'lN. " I,a Salle and the French in the (Ireat West," by Rev. 
 W. E. Grifkis. " The Jesuit Missionaries in America," by I'ROF. J.\MES 
 K. HosMKR. "Wolfe and Montcalm: the Struggle of Kngland and 
 France for the Continent," by John Fiskk. " Franklin in France," 
 by (Jl-ORGK M. Towi.E. " The Friendship of Washington and Lafayette," 
 by .Mrs. .Ahha Gooi.n Wool. son. " 'I'homas Jefferson and the Louisiana 
 l^irchase," by RoDF.RT Mcirss Lovf.it, Old South prize essa'ist, 1888. 
 " The Year 1789," by Rf.v. Edward Kvkrett Hale. The Leaflets for 
 the year were as follows : (i) Verraxzano's Accou:i; of his Voyage to Amer- 
 ica ; (2) Marquette's Account of his Discovery of the Mississippi ; (3) Mr. 
 Parkman's Histories; (4) The Cajiture of (,)uebec, from Turkman's " Con- 
 spiracy of Tontiar;" (5) Selections from Franklin's Letters from France; 
 (6) Letters of Washington antl Lafayette; (7) The Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence; (8) The French Declaration of the Rights of Man, 1789. 
 
 The lectures fo. the summer of 1890 were on " The American Indians," 
 as follows: "The Mound builders," by ProF. GkoRi.e II. 1'erkins; "The 
 Indians whom our Fathers F"ouud," by Gkn. II. H. Carrinc.ton ; "John 
 Eliot and his Indian Bible," by Rf.v. Edward G. Porter; " King Philip's 
 War," by Miss Caroline C. Stf.cker, Old South prize essayist, 18S9; 
 "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," by Ciiari.es A. E-.stman, M.I)., of the 
 
Holopna was prior 
 'raiiC' in the i ith 
 e Coiu|ueror, died, 
 nt. : Dante at the 
 ines in It:ily, 1289. 
 discovLied, 1492. 
 11 of Orange lands 
 :d, and the Bastile 
 ng with the several 
 or(i,"froni (Ireen's 
 Jon and the Third 
 (3) "'l"he Univer- 
 " The Sermon on 
 and the Ancient 
 efeat of the Span- 
 of Kights," 1689; 
 ■le. I'he selections 
 ical notes, and it is 
 idents and teachers 
 
 ginning of our own 
 he lectures for thi; 
 " were devoted en- 
 related to that of 
 ebec," by fiiARLKS 
 at West," by KeV. 
 I," by Prof. Jamk 
 e of Kngland and 
 nklin in France," 
 [ton and Lafayette," 
 and the Louisiana 
 )rize essa-'ist, 18SS. 
 The Leaflets for 
 lis Voyage to Anier- 
 lississii)pi; (3) Mr. 
 a I'arkman's " t'on- 
 jtters from France; 
 )eclarati(in of Inde- 
 f Man, 1789. 
 American Indians," 
 11. I'ERKINS; " The 
 \RRlNi'.ToN ; " John 
 iKR; " King I'hilip's 
 )rize essayist, 18S9; 
 MAN, M.l)., of the 
 
 Siou.x nation ; "A Century of Dishonor, "by Hk.RIif.rt Wki.sii; "Among 
 the Zunis," by J. Wai.tf.r Fewkes, Ph.D. ; "The Indian at School," by 
 Gen. .S. C. Armsi-ronc. The Leaflets were as follows: (i) Extract from 
 address by William Henry Harrison on the Mound Builders of the Ohio 
 Valley ; (2) Kxtract from Morton's " .N'ew I'^nglish Canaan " on the Manners 
 and Customs of the Indians ; (3) John Eliot's " Brief Narrative of the Prog- 
 ress of the (iospel among the Indians of New England," 1670; (4) Extract 
 from Hubbard's "Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians" (1677) on 
 the Beginning of King Philiji's War; (5) The Speech of Pontiac at the 
 Council at the River Ecorces, from I'arkman's " Conspiracy of Pontiac ; " 
 (6) Extract from Black Hawk's autobiography, on the Cause of the Black 
 Hawk War; (7) Coronado's Letter to Afendoza (1540) on his Explorations 
 in New Mexico; (8) Elcazar Wheelock's Narrative (1762) of the Kise and 
 Progress of the Indian School at Lebanon, Conn. 
 
 The lectures for 1891, under the general title of " The New Birth of the 
 World," were devoted to the important movements in the age preceding 
 the discovery of America, the several lectures I)eing as follows: "The 
 Results of the Crusades," by F. E. E. Hamilton, Old South prize essay- 
 ist, 1883; " The Revival of Learning," by Prof. Ai.hkrt B. Hart; "The 
 Builders of the Cathedrals," by Prof. Marsiiai.i. S. Snow ; " The Changes 
 which Crunpowder made," by Frank A. Hli.i. ; "The Decline of the Barons," 
 by Wa.LiAM Everett; "The Invention of Printing," by Rf.v. Edward (J. 
 Porter; "When Michael Angelo was a Boy," by Hamlin Garland; 
 "The Discovery of America," by Rev. E. K. Hale. The Leaflets were as 
 follows; (i)"The Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders," from the 
 Chronicle of William of Malmesbury ; (2) Extract from More's " Utopia;" 
 (3) " The P'ounding of Westminster Abbey," from Dean Stanley's " Historical 
 Memorials of Westminster Abbey; " (4) "The Siege of Constantinople," 
 from Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman I'.mpire;" ;;^ "Simon 
 de Montfort," .sf lections fron. Chronicles of the time; (6) " Caxton at 
 Westminster," extract from Blades's Life of ^Villiam Caxton; (7) "The 
 Youth of Michael Angelo," from Vasari's " Lives of the Italian Painters; " 
 (8) "The Discovery of America," from Ferd>'"and Columbus's life of his 
 father. 
 
 The Leaflets for 1883 are now mostly out of print. Tho.se for 1884 and 
 subsequent years, bound in flexible cloth or paper covers, may be ))rocured 
 
 The Old South Leaflets, which have been publis'ned, during the last eight 
 years, in connection with these annual courses of historical lectures at the 
 Old South Meeting House, have attracted so much attention and proved of 
 so much service, that the Directors have entered upon the publication of a 
 general sanies of Leaflets, with the needs of schools, colleges, private clubs 
 and classes especially in mind. The Leaflets are prepared by Mr. Edwin D. 
 Mead. They are 1 'rgely reproductions of important original papers, accom- 
 panied by useful historical ami bibliographical notes. They consist, on an 
 
8 
 
 average, of sixteen pages, and are sold at the low price of five cents a 
 copy or thrt'e dollars per liMndrcd. The aim is to bring Ihcin within ersy 
 reach of everybody. Schools and the trade will be supplied by M;ssrs. 
 D. C. Heath & Co. The Old South work is a work for the ednjation of 
 the people, and especially the education of our young people, in American 
 history and politics, and its promoters believe that few things can contribute 
 better to this end than the wide circulation of such leaflets as those now 
 undertaken. It is hoped that |)rofessor.i in our colleges and teachers every- 
 where will welcome them for use in their classes, and that they may meet 
 the needs of the societies of young men and women now happily be-ng 
 organized in so many |)laces for historical and political studies. .Some idea 
 of the characti.'r of this i,v>u->ii/ >/;rirs of Old South Leaflets may be gained 
 from the following list of the subjects of the first twenty-eight numbers, 
 which are now ready : 
 
 Xo. 1. The Constitution of the United States. 2. The Articles of 
 Confederation. 3. The Declaration of In(le])en(lence. 4. Washington's 
 Farewell .Address. 5. Magna Charta. 6. Vane's " Healing (Question." 
 7. l^hartcr of Massachusetts Hay, 1629. 8. Fundamental Orders of Con- 
 necticut, i6jS. 9. Franklin's I'lan of Union, 1754. 10. Washington's 
 Inaugurals. 11. Lincoln's Inaugurals and Kmancipation Proclamation. 
 12. The Federalist, N'os. i and 2. 13. The Ordinance of 17S7. 14. The 
 Constitution of Ohio.* 15. Washington's Circular Letter to the Govern- 
 ors of the Slates, 17S3. 16. Washington's Letter to Benjamin Harrison, 
 17CS4. 17. Verrazzano's Voyage, 1524. 18. The Constitution of Swit- 
 zerland.* 19. The Hill of Rights, 16S9. 20. Coronado's Letter to Men- 
 doza, 1540 21. l'",liot's Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Cospel 
 among the Indians, 1670. 22. Wlieelock's Narrative oi the Rise of the 
 Indian School at Lebanon, Conn., 1762. 23- The Petition of Rights, 1628. 
 24. The (irand Remonstrance. 25. The Scottish National Clovenants. 
 26. The Agreement of the People. 27. The Instrument of Government. 
 28. Cromwell's First Speech to his Parliament. 
 
 * Double number, i>rice ten cents. 
 
 The Directors of the Old South Studies in History and Politics have 
 also published a Manual of the Constitution of the United States, with 
 bibliographical and historical notes and outlines for study, by Kdvi'in U. 
 Mead. This manual is published for the use of schools and of such clubs, 
 classes and individu.il students as may wish to make a careful study of the 
 Constitution and its history. Our societies of young men and women enter- 
 ing upon historical and polilic.il studies can do nothing better to begin with 
 than to make themselves thoroughly familiar with the Consiitutio'1. It is 
 especially with such societies in view that the table of topics for study, which 
 follows the very full bibliographical notes in this manual, has been prepared. 
 A copy of the manual will be sent to any address on receipt of twenty-five 
 cents ; one hundred copies, fifteen dollars. .Address Directors of Old South 
 Studies, Old South Meeting House. 
 
 Old South Meetitig House, 
 Boston, i8gi. 
 
five cents a 
 I within e;'sy 
 l)y M;.ssr.s. 
 5<li''j;ition of 
 in American 
 n contribute 
 ■i those now 
 ichers every- 
 ey may meet 
 il)pily be'ng 
 Some idea 
 ly l)e gained 
 ht numbers, 
 
 ; Articles of 
 ^'ashington's 
 
 (Question." 
 ders of Con- 
 Vashington's 
 roclamation. 
 7. 14. The 
 the Govern- 
 in Harrison, 
 r)n of Swit- 
 ttor to Men- 
 
 tlie (Jospel 
 
 Rise of the 
 <ights, 1628. 
 
 C'ovenants. 
 CJovernment. 
 
 Politics have 
 States, with 
 ly I'xivvin U. 
 sucii clubs, 
 study of the 
 iomen enter- 
 f) begin with 
 utio'i. It is 
 study, which 
 en prepared. 
 f twenty-five 
 of Old South 
 
M: 
 
 1 ' 
 
 i 
 
about fifty paces broad. Ascending fartlier, we found several 
 arms of tiie sea which make in through inlets, washing the 
 shores on both sides as the coast runs. An outstretched coun- 
 try appears at a little distance rising somewhat above the sandy 
 shore in beautiful fields and broad plains, covered with immense 
 forests of trees, more or less dense, too various in colours, and 
 too delightful and charming in appearance to be described. I 
 do not believe that they are like the Hercynian forest or the 
 rough wilds of Scythia, and the northern regions full of vines 
 and common trees, but adorned with palms, laurels, cypresses, 
 and other varieties unknown in Europe, that send forth the sweet- 
 est fragrance to a great distance, but which we could not ex- 
 amine more closely for the reasons before given, and not on 
 account of any difficulty in traversing the woods, which, on the 
 contrary, are easily penetrated. 
 
 As the " East " stretches around this country, I think it can- 
 not be devoid of the same medicinal and aromatic drugs, and 
 various riches of gold and the like, as is denoted by the colour 
 of the ground. It abounds also in animals, as deer, stags, hares, 
 and many other similar, and with a great variety of birds for 
 every kind of pleasant and delightful sport. It is plentifully sup- 
 plied with lakes and ponds of running "'^ter, and being in the 
 latitude of 34. the air is salubrious, pure a.id temperate, and free 
 from the extremes of both heat and cold. There are no violent 
 winds in these regions, the most prevalent are the north-west 
 and west. In summer, the season in which we were there, 
 the sky is clear, with but little rain : if fogs and mists are at 
 any time driven in by the south wind, they are instantaneously 
 dissipated, and at once it becomes serene and bright again. 
 The sea is calm, not boisterous, and its waves are gentle. Al- 
 though the whole coast is low and without harbours, it is not 
 dangerous for navigation, being free from rcoks and bold, so 
 that within four or five fathoms from the shore there is twenty- 
 four feet of water at all times of tide, and this depth constantly 
 increases in a uniform proportion. The holding ground is so 
 good that no ship can part her cab'e, however violent the wind, 
 as we proved by experience ; for while riding at anchor on the 
 coast, we were overtaken by a gale in the beginning of March, 
 when the winds are high, as is usual in all countries, we found 
 our anchor broken beiore it started from its hold or moved 
 at all. 
 
 We set sail from this place, continuing to coast along the 
 shore, which we found stretching out to the west (east?) ; the in- 
 
 
 lU 
 
 
 \,^ 
 
 J- - < •»- 
 
 ■ii»fW 
 
habitants being numerous, we saw everywhere a multitude of fires. 
 While at anchor on this coast, there being no harbour to enter, 
 we sent the boat on shore with twenty-five men lo obtain water, 
 but it was not possible to land without endangering the boat, on 
 account of the immense high surf thrown up by the sea, as it 
 was an open roadstead. Many of the natives came to the 
 beach, indicating by various friendly signs that we might trust 
 ourselves on shore. One of their noble deeds of friendship de- 
 serves to be m.ide known to your Majesty. A young sailor was 
 attempting to swim ashore through (he surf to carry them some 
 knick-knacks, as little bells, looking-glasses, and other like tri- 
 fles ; when he came near three or four of them he tossed the 
 things to them, and turned about to get back to the boat, but he 
 was thrown over by the waves, and so dashed by them that he 
 lay as it were dead upon the beach. When these people saw 
 him in this situation, they ran and took him up by the head, 
 legs and arms, and carried him to a distance from the surf ; the 
 young man, finding himself borne off in this way, uttered very 
 loud shrieks in fear and dismay, while they answered as they 
 could in their language, showing him that he had no cause for 
 fear. Afterwards they laid him down at the foot of a little hill, 
 when they took off his shirt and trowsers, and examined him, 
 expressing the greatest astonishment at the whiteness of his 
 skin. Our sailors in the boat seeing a great fire made up, and 
 their companion placed very near it, full of fear, as is usual in 
 all cases of novelty, imagined that the natives were about to 
 roast him for food. But as soon as he had recovered his strength 
 after a short stay with them, showing by signs vhat he wished 
 to return aboard, they hugged him with great affection, and 
 accompanied him to the shore, then leaving hiui, that he might 
 feel more secure, they withdrew to a little hill, from which they 
 watched him until he was safe in the boat. This young man 
 remarked that these people were black like the others, that they 
 had shining skins, middle stature, and sharper faces, and very 
 delicate bodies and limbs, and that th»;y were inferior in strength, 
 but quick in their minds ; this is all that he observed of them. 
 
 Departing' hence, and always following the shore, which 
 stretched to the north, we came, in the space of fifty leagues, 
 to another land, which appeared very beautiful and full of the 
 largest forests. We approached it, and going ashore with 
 twenty men, we went back from the coast about two leagues, 
 and found that the people had fled and hid themselves in the 
 woods for fear. By searching around we discovered in the 
 
 •'5»t!;fesi»a,*, 
 
 '^amm 
 
■■ 
 
 1 
 
 multitude of fires, 
 larbour to enter, 
 n 10 obtain water, 
 ^ering the boat, on 
 p by the sea, as it 
 ives came to the 
 at we might trust 
 s of friendship de- 
 \ young sailor was 
 
 carry them sonriC 
 and other like tri- 
 lem he tossed the 
 to the boat, but he 
 d by them that he 
 
 1 these people saw 
 n up by the head, 
 ; from the surf ; the 
 5 way, uttered very 
 r answered as they 
 ; had no cause for 
 
 foot of a little hill, 
 
 and examined him, 
 e whiteness of his 
 t fire made up, and 
 
 fear, as is usual in 
 tives were about to 
 icovered his strength 
 igns ibat he wished 
 great affection, and 
 
 hitii, that he might 
 lill, from which they 
 t. This young man 
 
 the others, that they 
 rper faces, and very 
 e inferior in strength, 
 : observed of them, 
 ng the shore, which 
 ace of fifty leagues, 
 itiful and full of the 
 [ going ashore with 
 t about two leagues, 
 id themselves in the 
 ive discovered in the 
 
 s 
 
 grass a very old woman and a young girl of about eighteen or 
 twenty, who had concealed themselves for the same reason ; the 
 old woman carried two infants on her shoulders, and behind 
 her neck a little boy eight years of age ; when we came up to 
 them they began to shriek and make signs to the men who had 
 fled to the woods. We gave them a part of our provisions, 
 which they accepted with delight, but the girl would not touch 
 any; every thing we offered to her being thrown down in great 
 anger. We took the little boy from the old woman to carry 
 with us to France, and would have taken the girl also, w^^o was 
 very beautiful and very tall, but it was impossible because of the 
 loud shrieks she uttered as we attempted to lead her away ; 
 having to pass some woods, and being far from the ship, we 
 determined to leave her and take the boy only. We found them 
 fairer than the others, and wearing a covering made of certain 
 plants, which hung down from the branches of the trees, tying 
 them together with threads of wild hemp ; their heads are with- 
 out covering and of the same shape as the others. Their food 
 is a kind of pulse which there abounds, different in colour and 
 size from ours, and of a very delicious flavour. Besides they 
 take birds and fish for food, using snares and bows made of hard 
 wood, with reeds for arrows, in the ends of which they put the 
 bones of fish and other animals. The animals in these regions 
 are wilder than in Europe from being continually molested by 
 the hunters. We saw many of their boats made of one tree 
 twenty feet long and four feet broad, without the aid of stone or 
 iron or other kind of metal. In the whole country for the space 
 of two hundred leagues, which we visited, we saw no stone of 
 any sort. To hollow out their boats they burn out as much of 
 a log as is requisite, and also from the prow and stern to make 
 them float well on the sea. The land, in situation, fertility and 
 beauty, is like the other, abounding also in forests filled with 
 various kinds of trees, but not of such fragrance, as 't is more 
 northern and colder. 
 
 We saw in this country many vines growing naturally, which 
 entwine about the trees, and run up upon them as they do in the 
 plains of Lombardy. These vines would doubtless produce ex- 
 cellent wine if thev were properly cultivated and attended to, as 
 we have often seen the grapes which they produce very sweet 
 and pleasant, and not ur^like our own. They must be held in 
 estimation by them, as they carefully remove the shrubbery 
 from around them, wherever they grow, to allow the fruit to 
 ripen better. We found also wild roses, violets, lilies, and many 
 
 J 
 
sorts of plants and fragrant flowers different from our own. We 
 cannot describe their habitations, as they are in the interior of 
 the coiMitry, but from various indications we conclude tlioy must 
 be formed of trees and shrubs. We saw also many grounds for 
 conjecturing that they often sleep in the open air, without any 
 covering but the sky. Of their other usages we know nothing ; 
 we believe, however, that all the p'^ople we were among live in 
 the same way. 
 
 After having remained here three days, riding at anchor on 
 the coast, as we could find no harbour we determined to de- 
 part, and coast along the shore to the north-east, keeping sail 
 on the vessel only by day, and coming to anchor by night. 
 After proceeding one hundred leagues, we found a very pleas- 
 ant situation among some steep hills, through which a very large 
 river, deep at its mouth, forced its way to the sea ; from the 
 sea to the estuary of the river, any ship heavily laden might 
 pass, with the help of the tide, which rises eight feet. But as 
 we were riding at anchor in a good berth, we would not ven- 
 ture up in our vessel, without a knowledge of the mouth ; 
 therefore we took the boat, and entering the river, we found 
 the country on its banks well peopled, the inhabitants not dif- 
 fering much from the others, being dressed out with the feath- 
 ers of birds of various colours. They came towards us with 
 evident delight, raising loud shouts of admiration, and showing 
 us where we could most securely land with our boat. We 
 passed up this river, about half a league, when we found it 
 formed a most beautiful lake three leagues in circuit, upon 
 which they were rowing thirty or more of their small boats, 
 from one shore to the other, filled with multitudes who came to 
 see us. All of a sudden, as is wont to happen to navigators, a 
 violent contrary wind blew in from the sea, and forced us to 
 return to our ship, greatly regretting to leave this region which 
 seemed so rommodious and delightful, and which wc supposed 
 must also contain great riches, as the hills showed many in- 
 dications of minerals. Weighing anchor, we sailed fifty 
 leagues toward the east, as the coast stretched in that direc- 
 tion, and always in sight of it ; at length we discovered an 
 island of a triangular form, about ten leagues from the main- 
 land, in size about equal to the island of Rhodes, having many 
 hills covered with trees, and well peopled, judging from the 
 great number of fires which we saw all around its shores ; we 
 gave it the name of your Majesty's illustrious mother. 
 , We did not land there, as the weather was unfavourable, but 
 
om our own. We 
 n the interior of 
 
 Hv-Iude tiiijy must 
 many grounds for 
 
 air, without any 
 e know nothing ; 
 re among live in 
 
 ;iing at anchor on 
 letermined to de- 
 
 ast, keeping sail 
 anchor by night, 
 nd a very pleas- 
 vhich a very large 
 he sea ; from the 
 vily laden might 
 ight feet. But as 
 ve would not ven- 
 ; of the mouth ; 
 i river, we found 
 labitants not dif- 
 ut with the feath- 
 
 towards us with 
 ion, and showing 
 h our boat. We 
 hen we found it 
 
 in circuit, upon 
 heir small boats, 
 des who came to 
 
 to navigators, a 
 and forced us to 
 his region which 
 ich wc supposed 
 howed many in- 
 we sailed fifty 
 ed in that direc- 
 e discovered an 
 1 from the main- 
 les, having many 
 Lidging from the 
 id its shores ; we 
 :iother. 
 anfavourable, but 
 
 proceeded to another place, fii'teci leagues distant from the 
 island, where we found a very excellent harbour. Before en- 
 tering it, we saw about twenty small boats full of people, who 
 came about our ship, uttering many cries of astonishment, but 
 they would not approach nearer than within fifty paces ; stop- 
 ping, they looked at the structure of our ship, our persons and 
 dress, afterwards they all raised a loud shout together, signify- 
 ing that they were pleased. By imitating their signs, we in- 
 spired them in some measure with confidence, so that they 
 came near enough for us to toss to them some little bells and 
 glasses, and many toys, which they took and looked at, laugh- 
 ing, and then came on board without fear. Among tliem were 
 two kings more beautiful in form and stature than can possibly 
 be described ; one was about forty years old, the other about 
 twenty-four, and they were dressed In the following manner : 
 The oldest had a deer's skin around his body, artificially 
 wrought in damask figures, his head was without covering, 
 his hair was tied back in various knots; around his neck he wore 
 a large chain ornamented with many stones of diiTerent colours. 
 The young man was similar in his general appearance. This 
 is the finest looking tribe, and the handsomest in their cos- 
 tumes, that we have found in our voyage. They exceed us in 
 size, and they are of a very fair complexion (?) ; some of them 
 incline more to a white (bronze ?), and others to a tawny colour ; 
 their faces are sharp, their hair long and black, upon the adorning 
 of which they bestow great pains ; their eyes are black and sharp, 
 their expression mild and pleasant, greatly resembling the an- 
 tique. I say nothing to your Majesty of the other parts of the 
 body, which are all in good proportion, and such as belong to 
 well-formed men. Their women are of the same form and 
 beauty, very graceful, of fine countenances and pleasing ap- 
 pearance in manners and modesty ; they wear no clothing ex- 
 cept a dtcr skin, ornamented like those worn by the men ; 
 some wear very rich lynx skins upon their arms, and various 
 ornaments upon their heads, composed of braids of hair, which 
 also hang down upon their breasts on each side. Others wear 
 different ornaments, such as the women of Egypt and Syria 
 use. The older and the married people, both men and women, 
 wear many ornaments in their ears, hanging down in the oriental 
 manner. We saw upon them several pieces of wrought cop- 
 per, which is more esteemed by them than gold, as this is not 
 valued on account of its colour, but is considered by them as 
 the most ordinary of the metals — yellow being the colour es- 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
8 
 
 peciallv disliked by them ; azure and led are those in highest 
 estimation with them, (^f those things wiiich we gave them, they 
 prized most iiighly the bells, azure crystals, and other toys to 
 hang in their ears and about their necks ; they do not value 
 or care to have silk or gold stuffs, or other kinds of cloth, nor 
 implements of steel or iron. When we showed them our arms, 
 they expressed no admiration, and only asked how they were 
 made ; the same was the case of the looking-glasses, which 
 they returned to us, smiling, as soon as they had looked at 
 them. .""ley are very generous, giving away whatever they 
 have. We formed a greai friendship with them, and one day 
 we entered into the port with our ship, having before rode at 
 the distance of a league from the shore, as the weather was ad- 
 verse. They came otT to the ship with a number of their little 
 boats, with their faces painted in divers colours, showirig us 
 real signs of joy, bringing us of their provisions, and signifying 
 to us where we could best ride in safety with our ship, and 
 keeping with us until we had cast anchor. We remained 
 among them fifteen days, to provide ourselves with many things 
 of which we were in want, during which time they came every 
 day to see our ship, bringing with them their wives, of whom 
 they were very careful ; for, although they came on board 
 themcelves, and remained a long while, they made their wives 
 stay in the boats, nor could we ever get them on board by any 
 entreaties or any presents we could make them. One of the 
 two kings often came with his queen and many attendants, 
 to see us for his amusement; but he always stopped at the 
 distance of about two hundred paces, and sent a boat to inform 
 us of his intended visit, saying they would come and see our 
 sliip — this was done for safety, and as soon as they had an an- 
 swer from us they came off, and remained awhile to look 
 around ; but on hearing the annoying cries of the sailors, the 
 king sent the queen, with her attendants, in a very light boat, 
 to wait, near an island a quarter of a league distant from us, 
 while he remained a long time on board, talking with us by 
 signs, and expressing his fanciful notions about every hing in 
 the ship, and asking the use of all. After imitating our modes 
 of salutation, and tasting our food, he courteously took leave 
 of us. Sometimes, when our men stayed two or three days on 
 a small island, near the ship, for their various necessities, as 
 sailors art wont to do, he came with seven or eight of his at- 
 tendants, to inquire about our movements, often asking us if we 
 intended to remain there long, and offering us everything at his 
 
those in Iiighest 
 e fjave tliem, they 
 d other toys to 
 cy do not value 
 Hs of cloth, nor 
 them our arms, 
 how they were 
 ig-gl.isscs, which 
 had looked at 
 ly whatever they 
 m, and one day 
 (^ before rode at 
 weather was ad- 
 )cr of their little 
 ours, showing us 
 s, and signifying 
 ilh our ship, and 
 We remained 
 kvitii many things 
 they came every 
 ■ wives, of whom 
 came on board 
 nade their wives 
 on board by any 
 em. One of the 
 many attendants, 
 s stopped at the 
 a boat to inform 
 :ome and see our 
 they had an an- 
 1 awhile to look 
 i the sailors, the 
 a very light boat, 
 ; distant from us, 
 Iking with us by 
 ut every hing in 
 ating our modes 
 ously took leave 
 3r three days on 
 js necessities, as 
 r eight of his at- 
 1 asking us if we 
 everything at his 
 
 I 
 
 command, and then he would shoot with his bow, and run up and 
 down with his people, making great sport for us. We often went 
 five or six leagues into the interior, and found the country as 
 pleasant as is possible to conceive, adapted to cultivation of every 
 kind, whether of corn, wine or oil ; there arc open plains 
 twenty-five or thirty leagues in extent, entirely free from trees 
 of other hindrances, and of so great fertility, that whatever is 
 sown there will yield an excellent crop. On entering the 
 woods, we observed that they might all be traversed by an army 
 ever so numerous ; the trees of which they were composed, were 
 oaks, cypresses, and others, unknown in Kurope. We found, 
 also, apples, phimbs, filberts, and many other fruits, but all of 
 a different kind from ours. The animals, which are in great 
 numbers, as stags, deer, lynxes, and many other species, are 
 taken by ?nares, and by bows, the latter being their chief 
 implement; their arrows are wrought with great beauty, and for 
 the heads of them, they use emery, jasper, hard marble, and 
 other sharp stones, in the place of iron. They also use the 
 same kind of sharp stones in cutting down trees, and with 
 them they construct their boats of smgle logs, hollowed out 
 with admirable skill, and sufficiently commodious to contain 
 ten or twelve persons ; their oars are short, and broad at the 
 end, and are managed in rowing by force of the arms alone, 
 with perfect security, and as nimbly as they choose. We saw 
 their dwellings, which are of a circular form, of about ten or 
 twelve paces in circumfe > .ice, made of logs split in halves, 
 without iny regularity of architecture, and covered with roofs 
 of straw, nicely put on, which protect them from wind and 
 rain. There is no doubt that they would build stately edifices 
 if they had workmen as skilful as ours, for the whole sea- 
 coast abounds in shining stones, crystals, and alabaster, and 
 for the same reason it has ports and retreats for animals. 
 They change their habitations from place to place as circum- 
 stances of situation and season may require ; this is easily 
 done, as they have only to take with them their mats, and they 
 have other houses prepared at once. The father and the 
 whole family dwell together in one house in great numbers ; in 
 some we saw twenty-five or thirty persons. Their food is pulse, 
 as with the other tribes, which is here better than elsewhere, 
 and more carefully cultivated ; in the time of sowing they are 
 governed by the mootr, the sprouting of grain, and many other 
 ancient usages. They live by hunting and fishing, and they 
 are long-lived. If they fall sick, they cure themselves without 
 
 -—--■■. .--'^-^^•yhiir'i^ 
 
 ss^^?^ 
 
 .saiHSsV-;-"' 
 
10 
 
 medicine, by tlie heat of the fire, and their death at last comes 
 from extreme old ago. Wc judge them to lie very affectionate 
 nnd charitable towards iheir relaliv«'.s — making loud laiiifMta- 
 tions in their adversity, and in their misery railing to niin 1 all 
 their good fortune. At their departure out of life, their relations 
 mutually join in weeping, mingled with singing, for a long 
 while. This is all that we could learn of them. This region 
 is situated i" the narallel of Rome, being 41° 40' of north 
 latitude, but mujii colder from accidental circinnstances, and 
 not by nature, as I shall hereafter explain to your Majesty, and 
 confine myself at present to the description of its local situa- 
 tion. It looks towards the south, on which side the harbour is 
 half a league broa<i ; afterwards, upon entering it, the extent 
 between the coast and north is twelve leagues, and then en- 
 larging itself it forms a very large bay, twenty leagues in cir- 
 cumference, in whioh are five small islands, of great fertility 
 and beauty, covered with large and lofty trees. Among these 
 islands any Heet, however large, might ride safely, without fear 
 of tempests or other dangers. Turning towards the south, at 
 the entrance of the harbour, on both sides, there are very pleas- 
 ant hills, and many streams of clear water, which How clown to 
 the sea. In the midst of the entrance, there is a rock of free- 
 stone, formed by nature, and suitable for the construction of 
 any kind of machine or bulw.irk for the defence of the harbour.* 
 Having supplied ourselves with every thing necessary, on 
 the fifth of May we departed from the port, and sailed one hun- 
 dred and fifty leagues, keepinp so close to the coast as never to 
 lose it from our sight ; the nature of the country appeared much 
 the same as before, but the mountains were a little higher, 
 and all in appearance rich in minerals. We did nnt ^top to land 
 as the weather was very favorable for pursuing our voyage, 
 and the country presented no variety. The shore stretched to 
 the east, and fifty leagues beyond more to the north, where we 
 found a more elevated country, full of very thick woods of fir 
 
 • The above description applies to Narraganset Hay and the harbour of 
 Newport in Rhode Island, although mistaken by Dr. Miller, in his discourse 
 before this Society, as published in the first volume of the former series of 
 Collections, for the bay and harbour of New- York. The latter are briefly 
 described in a preceding paragraph of this translation, p. 45, with sufficient 
 clearness to admit of their being easily recognized. The island " of a 
 triangular form, resembling the island of Rhodes," which Verrazzano men- 
 tions as fiftv leagues to the east of New- York, p. 46, is doubtless Block 
 Island.— Ed. 
 
II 
 
 til at hist comes 
 vory affectionate 
 inn IoikI lanienta- 
 IliiiK to min 1 all 
 f<', tlicir relations 
 ni>>K. for a loHf; 
 rn. Tliis region 
 41° 40' of north 
 rcumjitances, and 
 onr Majesty, and 
 of its local sittia- 
 fle the harbour is 
 ring it, the extent 
 K's, and then en- 
 ty leagues in cir- 
 of great fertility 
 s. Among these 
 feiy, without fear 
 rds the south, at 
 re are very pleas- 
 iih (low down to 
 a rnck of free- 
 e construction of 
 i of the harbour.'* 
 ing necessary, on 
 d sailed one hun- 
 coast as never to 
 ry appeared much 
 : a little higher, 
 dnn* "top to land 
 uing our voyage, 
 lore stretched to 
 north, where we 
 hick woods of fir 
 
 ' and the harbour of 
 Her, in his (ILscourse 
 he former series of 
 he latter are briefly 
 p. 45. with suflficient 
 The island "of a 
 :h Verrazzano men- 
 is doubtless Block 
 
 trees, cypresses and the like, indicative of a cold climate. The 
 people were entirely different from the others we had seen, 
 whom we had found kind and gentle, but these were so rude and 
 barbarous that we were utiable by any signs we could make, to 
 hold communication with them. They clothe themselves in t'lf; 
 skins of bears, lynxes, seals and other animals. 'I'heir food, as 
 far as we coulil judge by several visits to their dwellings, is ob- 
 tained by hunting and hshinc, and certain fruits, which are a sort 
 of root of spontaneous growth. They have no pulse, and we 
 saw no signs of cultivation ; the land appears sleriU and unfit for 
 growing of ffuil or grain of iny kind. If we wished at any 
 time to traffick with them, they came to the sea shore and stood 
 upon the rocks, from which they lowered down by a cord to our 
 boats beneath whatever they had to barter, continually crying 
 out to us, not to come nearer, and instantly demanding from us 
 that which was to be given in exchange ; they took from us only 
 knives, fish hooks and sharjievd steel. No regard was i)aid to 
 our courtesies ; when we had nothing left to exchange with 
 them, the men at our departure made the most brutal signs of 
 disdain and contempt possible. Against their will we penetrated 
 two or three le.igues into the interior with twenty-five men ; 
 when we came to the shore, they shot at us with their arrows, 
 raising the most horrible cries and afterwards fleeing to the 
 woods. In this region we found nothing extraordinary except 
 vast forests and some metalliferous hills, as we infer from see- 
 ing that many of the people wore copper ear-rings. Departing 
 from thence, we kept along the coast, steering north-east, and 
 found the country more pleasant and open, free from woods, 
 and distant in the interior we saw lofty mountains, but none 
 which extended to the shore. Within fifty leagues we discovered 
 thirty-two islands, all near the main land, small and of pleasant 
 appearance, but high and so disposed as to afford excellent har- 
 bours and channels, as we see in the Adriatic gulph, near Illy 
 ria and Dalmatia. We had no intercourse with the people, bu. 
 we judge that they were similiar in nature and uspges to those 
 we were last among. After sailing between east and north the 
 distance of one hundred and fifty leagties inore, and finding our 
 provisions and naval stores nearly exhausted, we took in wood 
 and water and determined to return to France, having discovered 
 502, that is 700 (sic; leagues of unknown lands. 
 
 As to the religious faith of all these tribes, not understand- 
 ing their language, we could not discover either by sign or 
 gestures any thing certain. It seemed to us that they had no 
 
 - iiiVt l' W*'!' i "' " ' 
 
12 
 
 religion nor laws, nor any knowledge of a First Cause or Mover, 
 that they worshipped neither the heavens, stars, siin, moon nor 
 other planets ; nor could we learn if tiiey were given to any kind 
 of idolatry, or offered any sacrifices or supplications, or if they 
 hav2 temples or houses of prayer in their villages; — our conclu- 
 sion was, that they have no religious belief whatever, but live in 
 this respect entirely free. All which proceeds from ignorance, 
 as they are very easy to be persuaded, and imitated us with 
 earnestness and fervour in all which they saw us do as Christians 
 in our acts of worship. 
 
 I j It remains for me to lay before your Majesty a cosmo- 
 
 \ I graphical exposition of our voyage. Taking our departure, as 
 
 |i I before observed, from the above mentioned desert rocks, 
 
 * vvhich lie on the extreme verge of the west, as known to the 
 
 || ancients, in the meridian of the Fortunate Islands, and in the 
 
 latitude of 32 degrees north from the equator, and steering a 
 westward course, we had run, when we first made land, a dis- 
 tance of r,2oo leagues or 4,800 miles, reckoning, according to 
 nautical usage, four miles to a league. This distance calculated 
 geometrically, upon the usual ratio of the diameter to the cir- 
 cumference of the circle, gives 92 degrees; for if we take 114 
 degrees as the chord of an arc of a great circle, we have by the 
 same ratio 95 deg. as the chord of an arc on the parallel of 34 
 degiees, being that on which we first made land, and 300 
 degrees as the circumference of the whole circle, passing 
 through this plane. Allowing then, as actual observations 
 show, that 62^ terrestrial miles correspond to a celestial 
 degree, we find the whole circumference of 300 deg., as ju.st 
 given, to be 18,759 miles, which, divided by 360, makes the 
 length of a degree of longitude in the parallel of 34 degrees to 
 be 52 miles, and that is the true measure. Upon this basis, 
 1,200 leagues, or 4,800 miles meridional distance, on the par- 
 allel of 34, give 92 degrees, and so many therefore have we 
 sailed farther to the west than was known to the ancients. 
 During our voyage we had no lunar eclipses or like celestial 
 phenomenas, we therefore determined our progress from the 
 difference of longitude, which we ascertained by various instru- 
 ments, by taking the sun's altitude from day to day, and by cal- 
 culating geometrically the distance run by the ship from one 
 horizon to another ; all these observations, as also the ebb and 
 flow of the sea in all places, were noted in a little book, which 
 
t Cause or Mover, 
 rs, sun, moon nor 
 
 ?;iven to any kind 
 cations, or if they 
 jes; — our conclu- 
 atever, but live in 
 from ignorance, 
 
 imitated us with 
 IS do as Christians 
 
 Vlajesty a cosmo- 
 our departure, as 
 led desert rocks, 
 as known to the 
 lands, and in the 
 )r, and steering a 
 made land, a dia- 
 ling, according to 
 istance calculated 
 kmeter to the cir- 
 ror if we take 114 
 le, we have by the 
 :he parallel of 34 
 le land, and 300 
 le circle, passing 
 tual observations 
 d to a celestial 
 300 deg., as just 
 f 360, makes the 
 1 of 34 degrees to 
 Upon this basis, 
 ance, on the par- 
 herefore have we 
 to the ancients. 
 1 or like celestial 
 rogress from the 
 by various instro- 
 I day, and by cal- 
 le ship from one 
 also the ebb and 
 little book, which 
 
 13 
 
 may prove serviceable io navigators ; they are communicated to 
 your Majesty in the hope of promoting science. 
 
 My intention in this voyage was to reach Cathay, on the 
 extreme coast of Asia, expecting, however, to find in the newly 
 discovered land some such an obstacle, as they have proved to 
 be, yet I did not doubt that I should penetrate by some passage 
 to the eastern ocean. It was the opinion of the ancients, that 
 our oriental Indian ocean is one and without any interposing 
 land ; Aristotle supports it by arguments founded on various 
 probabilities ; but it is contrary to that of the moderns and 
 shown to be turroneous by experience ; the country which has 
 been discovered, and which was unknown to the ancients, is 
 another world compared with that before known, being mani- 
 festly larger than our Europe, together with Africa and perhaps 
 Asia, if we rightly estimate its extent, as shall now be briefly 
 explained to your Majesty. The Spaniards have sailed south 
 beyond the equator on a meridian 20 degrees west of the Fort- 
 unate Islands to the latitude of 54, and there still found land ; 
 turning about they steered northward on the same meridian and 
 a.ong the coast to the eighth degree of latitude near the equator, 
 and thence along the coast more to the west and north-west, to 
 the latitude of 21°, without finding a termination to the conti- 
 nent ; they estimated the distance run as 89 degrees, which, 
 added to the 20 first run west of the Canaries, make 109 
 degrees and so far west; they sailed from the meridian of 
 these islands, but this may vary somewhat from truth ; we did 
 not make this voyage and therefore cannot speak from experi- 
 ence ; we calculated it geometrically from the observations 
 furnished by many navigators, who have made the voyage and 
 affirm the distance to be 1,600 leagues, due allowance being 
 made for the deviations of the ship from a straight course, by 
 reason of contrary winds. I hope that we shall now obtain 
 certain information on these points, by new voyages to be made 
 on the same coasts. But to return to ourselves ; in the voyage 
 which we have made by order of your Majesty, in addition to 
 the 92 degrees we run towards the west from our point of 
 departure, before we reached land in the latitude of 34, we 
 have to couiit 300 leagues which we ran north-east-wardly, and 
 400 nearly east along the coast before we reached the 50th 
 parallel of north latitude, the point where we turned our course 
 from the shore towards home. Beyond this point the Portu- 
 guese had already sailed as far north as the Arctic circle, with- 
 out coming to the termination of the land. Thus adding the 
 
 > 
 
 Jjfeto^'-^ 
 
14 
 
 degrees of south latitude explored, which are 54, to those of 
 the north, which are 66, the suiii is 120, and therefore more 
 than are embraced in the latitude of Africa and Europe, for the 
 north point of Norway, which is the extremiiy of Europe, is in 
 71 north, and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southern 
 extremity of Africa, is in 35 south, and their sum is only 106, 
 and if the breadth of this newly discovered country corresponds 
 to its extent of sea coast, it doubtless exceeds Asia in size. In 
 this way we find that the land forms a much larger portion of 
 our globe than the ancients supposed, who maintained, contrary 
 to mathematical reasoning, that it was less than the water, 
 whereas actual experience proves the reverse, so that we judge 
 in respect to extent of surface the land covers as much space 
 as the water ; and I hope more clearly and more satisfactorily 
 to point out and explain to your Majesty the great extent of 
 that new land, or new world, of which I have been speaking. 
 The continent of Asia and Africa, we kncv for certain, is joined 
 to Europe at the north in Norway and Russia, which disproves 
 the idea of the ancients that all this part had been navigated 
 from the Cimbric Chersonesus, eastward as fur as the Caspian 
 Sea. They also maintained that the whole continent was sur- 
 rounded by two seas situate to the east and west of it, which 
 seas in fact do not surround either of the two continents, (or as 
 we have seen above, die land of the southern hemisphere at the 
 latitude of 54 extends eastwardly an unknown distance, and 
 that of the northern passing the 66th parallel turns to the east, 
 and has no termination as high as the 70th. In a short time, 
 I hope, we shall have more certain knowledge of these things, 
 by the aid of your Majesty, whom I pray Almighty God to 
 prosper in lasting glory, that we may see the most important 
 results of this our cosmography in the fulfilment of the holy 
 words of the Gospel. 
 
 On board the ship Dolphin, in the port of Dieppe in Nor- 
 mandy, the 8th of July, 1524. 
 
 Your humble servitor, 
 
 John de Verrazzano. 
 
 Giovanni da Verrazzano. who commanded the first French expedition to 
 America sent out under royal auspices, was, like Columbjs, who sailed in the 
 service of Spain, an Italian. He was born in Florence, and was about ten 
 years old when Columbus discovered America. It has been stated, but on 
 doubtful authority, that he commanded one of the ships in Aubert's expedi- 
 tion to America in 1508. In 1521 he appears in history as a French corsair, 
 
are 54, to those of 
 and therefore more 
 and Europe, for the 
 liiy of Europe, is in 
 ich is the southern 
 sir sum is only 106, 
 country corresponds 
 ds Asia in size. In 
 ch larger portion of 
 naintained, contrary 
 ss than the water, 
 e, so that we judge 
 kers as much space 
 
 more satisfactorily 
 the great extent of 
 av<: been speaking, 
 'or certain, is joined 
 }ia, which disproves 
 [lad been navigated 
 fiir as the Caspian 
 
 continent was sur- 
 d west of it, which 
 o continents, (or as 
 n hemisphere at the 
 lown distance, and 
 :1 turns to the east, 
 In a short time, 
 Ige of these things, 
 ' Almighty God to 
 the most important 
 Slment of the holy 
 
 of Dieppe in Nor- 
 
 r DE Verrazzano. 
 
 ■St French expedition to 
 mbus, who sailed in the 
 nee, and was about ten 
 las been stated, but on 
 lips in Aubert's expedi- 
 )ry as a French corsair, 
 
 15 
 
 preying upon the commerce between Spain and America; and it was 
 probably in this occupation that he gained the notice and favr v of Francis I. 
 Late in 1523 he started on his voyage across the Atlantic, in the " Dau- 
 phine,"* his object being, as he tells us himself in the cosmographical appen- 
 ds to his letter, to reach Cathay (China) by a westward route. Of this 
 voyage the famous letter here published is the record. It was in March, 
 1524, that he discovered the American coast, probably not far from the site 
 of Wilmington in North Carolina. It will be interesting for the student to 
 follow him in his course northward, remembering that he wa? the first 
 European who explored this part of the coast. " A newe land," he exclaims 
 in his letter, "never before seen of any man, either auncient or moderne." 
 Among the places which he describes, Nev York Harbor, Block Island 
 (which he named Louisa, in honor of the king's mother), Newport and 
 other places have been identified. He continued along the Maine coast and 
 as far as Kova Scotia and Newfoundland, which fishermen from Urittany 
 had found twenty >ears before (the name of Cape Breton is a trace of them), 
 thence returning to France. He reached Dieppe early in July, and it is from 
 Dieppe, July 8, 1524, that his letter to the king is dated. It is the earliest 
 description known to exist of the shores of the United .States. 
 
 There are two copies of Verrazzano's letter, both of them, however, 
 Italian translations, the original letter not being in existence. One was 
 printed by Rj.musio in 1556, and this was translated into English by Hakluyt 
 for his Divers Voyages, which appeared in 1582. The other was found many 
 years later in the Strozzi Library at Florence, and was first published in 
 1841 by the New York Historical Society, with a translation by Dr. J, G. 
 Cogswell. This is the translation given in the present leaflet. The cosmo- 
 graphical appendix contained in the second version, and considered by Dr. 
 Asher and other antiquarians a document of great importance, was not con- 
 tained in the copy printed by Ramusio. 
 
 Verrazzano's voyage and letter have been the occasion of much contro- 
 versy. There are those who believe that he never came to America at all, 
 but that the letter was ingeniously prepared in F.-ance, with the connivance 
 of the king, as the basis of a claim to American territory. Mr. Henry C. 
 Murphy has been the ablest objector to the genuineness of Verrazzano's 
 letter and voyage. See his book on The Voyage of Verratzano, which 
 affected Mr. Bancroft so deeply that he has left out all me.itionof Verrazzano 
 in the revised edition of his History of the United States. The entire contro- 
 
 •rtiiDelfina «iis the name of Verraiiano's ship. Both Hakluyt and Dr. Cogswell 
 render this by the word Dtttkin' This is not correct. The Italian for dolphin is delfino, 
 which also signifies the dauphin, or oldest son of the king of France, so called because upon 
 the cession of Uauphiny to the crown of France, he became entitled to wear the armorial 
 device of the princes af that province, which was a dolphin. Dauphine U the feminine term. 
 
 
ill! 
 
 i6 
 
 versy is reviewed most ably by Justin Winsor, in the fourth volume of the 
 new Narrative and Critical History of America, and he shov-s the utter in- 
 sufficiency of Murphy's objections. This review should he carefully read by 
 the student. See also De Costa's Vtrrazzano the Explorer, containing an 
 exhaustive l)ibliography of the subject, Prof. Geo. W. Greene's essay on 
 Verrazzano in the North American Review for October, 1837, etc. 
 
 The fouith volume of the Narrative and Critical History of America 
 bears the sub-title of French Explorations and Settlements in North America, 
 to which subject almost the entire volume is devoted. It is an inexhaustible 
 u.ine of information, to which the more careful student should constantly go 
 in connection with almost all of the lectures on America and France. There 
 is a chapter devoted to Jacques Cartier, the next important Frenchman in 
 America, and very much about Cliamplain. Verrazzano, Cartier and Cham- 
 ])lain are also all most interestingly treated by Parkman, in his Pioneers of 
 France in the New World. Champlain's own writings, which have been 
 carefully edited by Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, should be consulted. 
 
 The eight lectures in the course on America and France are as follows : 
 Champlain, the Founder of Quebec ; La Salle and the French in the 
 Great West ; The Jesuit Missionaries in America ; Wolfe and Montcalm — 
 the Struggle of England and France for the Continent ; Franklin in France ; 
 The Friendship of Washington and Lafayette ; Thomas Jefferscn and the 
 Louisiana Purchase ; The Year tj8q. 
 
 In connection with these eight subjects we here recommend to the 
 young ijeople the following eight books. Any boy or girl who carefully 
 reads these eight books will well understand the general historical relations 
 of America and France. — Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World ; 
 Parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West ; Parkman's The 
 Jesuits in North America; Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe; Edward 
 Everett Hale's Franklin in France ; Henry Cabot Lodge's Life of Wash- 
 ington ; Morse's Life of Jefferson ; Mifinet a //istory of the French Revolu- 
 tion. The Old South leaflet on the French Revolution" (No. 8, in the series 
 for 1888), with its references to books, will also be found useful. 
 
 The subjects proposed for the Old South essays for 1889 are the 
 following: /. French Influence on American Political Thought during the 
 Period of the American and French Revolutions. II. Washington's Interest 
 in Education. Discuss especially his project of a National University. The 
 competition for the Old South prizes is open to all graduates of 1888 and 
 1889 from the various Boston high schools. The first prizes are forty 
 dollars ; the second prizes, twenty-five dollars. Circulars with full informa- 
 tion may be had at the Old South Meeting House. 
 
 i'l Aa » tfv -^.v < * ««y^ ) W »fe i S x-'- 
 
 'mi>im*mm^<i" 
 
fourth volume of the 
 he shows the utter in- 
 ild he carefully read by 
 xplortr, containing an 
 W. Greene's essay on 
 ir, 1837, etc. 
 ■al Hhtory of America 
 •nts in North America, 
 It is an inexhaustible 
 nt should constantly go 
 ka and France. There 
 portant Frenchman in 
 mo, Cartier and Chani- 
 lan, in his Pioneers of 
 ngs, which have been 
 yt consulted. 
 
 France are as follows : 
 nd the French in the 
 ^olfe and Montcalm — 
 ; Franklin in France ; 
 mas yejferson and the 
 
 jre recommend to the 
 or girl who carefully 
 ral historical relations 
 nee in the New World ; 
 West ; Parkman's The 
 and Wolfe ; Edward 
 jodge's Life of Wash- 
 of the French Revolu- 
 \\ (No. 8, in the series 
 und useful. 
 
 ays for 1889 are the 
 al Thought during the 
 Washington's Interest 
 'onal University. The 
 graduates of 1888 and 
 ; first prizes are forty 
 liars with full informa- 
 
 (£>lD -S>outlj leaflets 
 
 SEVENTH SERIES, 1889. 
 
 No. a. 
 
 Joliet and Mar- 
 quette on the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 R9?W 
 
 r-ROM MARQUETTE'S "ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF 
 
 SOME NEW COUNTRIES AND NATIONS IN 
 
 NORTH AMERICA," 1673. 
 
 I embarked with M. Joliet, who had been chosen to conduct 
 this enterprise, on the 13th May, 1673, with five other French- 
 men, in two baric canoes. We laid in some Indian corn and 
 smoked beef for our voyage. We first took care, however, to 
 dra^v from the Indians al! the information we could, concerning 
 the countries through which we designed to travel, and drew 
 up a map, on which we marked down the rivers, nations, and 
 points of the compass to guide us in our journey. The first 
 nation we came to was called the FoUes-Avoines, or the nation 
 of wild oats. I entered their river to visit them, as I had 
 preached among them some years before. The wild oats, from 
 which they derive their name, grow spontaneously in their 
 country. They grow in marshy ground, and are not unlike our 
 European oats. The grain is not thicker than ours, but it is 
 twice as long, and therefore it yields much more meal. It 
 makes its appearance in June and does not ripen until 
 September. In this month the Indians go to shake the grain 
 oil the ears in their canoes, which easily falls if it be ripe, and 
 which afterwards serves them for food. They dry it over a fire, 
 then pack it away in a kind of sack made of the skins of animals, 
 and having made a hole in the ground they put the sacks there- 
 in, and tread upon it until the chaff is separated from the grain, 
 and then winnow it. Afterwards they pound it in a mortar to 
 reduce it into meal ; they then boil it in water, and season it 
 with grease, which makes it very palatable. 
 
 I acquainted them with my design of discovering other 
 
 'A 
 
 >< 13*' 
 

 nations, to preach to them the mysteries of our holy religion, at 
 which they were much surprised, and said all they could to 
 dissuade me from it. They told me I would meet with Indians 
 who spare no strangers, and whom they kill without any provo- 
 cation or mercy ; that the war they have one with the other 
 would expose me to be t<aken by their warriors, as they are 
 constantly on the look-out to surprise their enemies. That the 
 Great River was exceedingly dangerous, and full of frightful 
 monsters who devoured men and canoes together, and that the 
 heat was so great that it would positively cause our death. I 
 thanked them for their kind advice, but told them I would not 
 follow it, as the salvation of a great many souls was concerned 
 in our undertaking, for whom I should be glad to lose my life. 
 I added that I defied their monsters, and their information 
 would oblige us to keep more upon our guard to avoid a 
 surprise. And having prayed with them, and given them some 
 instructions, we set out for the Bay of Puan (Green Bay), where 
 our missionaries had been successful in convening them. The 
 name they give to this bay is preferable in the Indian language 
 to ours ; for, according to the word they make use of, it signifies 
 Sa/t Bay. It is the name they give to the sea. This obliged us 
 to inquire whether there were any salt springs in their country, 
 as among the Iroquois, but they could not tell us of any. 
 
 This bay (Green Bay) is about thirty leagues long, and 
 eight broad in the greatest breadth ; for it grows narrower and 
 forms a cone at the extremity. It has tides that flow and ebb 
 as regular as the sea. We left this bay to go into a river (Fox 
 River) that discharges itself therein, and found its mouth very 
 broad and deep. It flows very gently, but after we had 
 advanced some leagues into it we found it difficult to navigate, 
 on account of the rocks and the currents; we fortunately over- 
 came all these difficulties. It abounds in bustards, ducks, and 
 other birds, which are attracted there by the wild oats, of which 
 they are very fond. We next came to a village of the Mask- 
 outens, or nation of fife. Here I had the curiosity to taste some 
 mireral water which came from a spring on the banks of the 
 river, and to examine a plant which the Indians had told Father 
 Allouez was a specific for the bite of snak«s. The root of this 
 plant is very hot, and tastes like gunpowder ; they chew it, and 
 apply it to the part of the body that has been stung. This cures 
 the wound. The snakes have such an antipathy to this plant, 
 that they run away from a man who has his body rubbed with 
 it. It has several stalks about a foot in length ; the leaves are 
 
1 
 
 )ur holy religion, at 
 all they could to 
 meet with Indians 
 without any piovo- 
 Dne with the other 
 rriors, as they are 
 'enemies. That the 
 ind full of frightful 
 ether, and that the 
 ause our death. I 
 them I would not 
 ouls was concerned 
 ad to lose my life, 
 their information 
 guard to avoid a 
 id given them some 
 (Green Bay), where 
 verting them. The 
 ihe Indian language 
 ke use of, it signifies 
 ea. This obliged us 
 gs in their country, 
 5ll us of any. 
 y leagues long, and 
 2;rows narrower and 
 !S that flow and ebb 
 go into a river (Fox 
 )und its mouth very 
 but after we had 
 difficult to navigate, 
 we fortunately over- 
 bustards, ducks, and 
 e wild oats, of which 
 illage of the Mask- 
 iriosity to taste some 
 n the banks of the 
 lians had told Father 
 5. The root of this 
 ■ ; they chew it, and 
 :n stung. This cures 
 ipathy to this plant, 
 5 body rubbed with 
 igth ; the leaves are 
 
 somewhat long ; the flower is white, and the whole looks like 
 our gilliflower. I put one into our canoe to examine it at my 
 leisure. 
 
 The French have never before passed beyond the Bay of 
 Puan (Green Bay). This Bourg consists of three several 
 nations, viz., Miamies, Maskoutens, and Kickapoos. The first 
 are more docile than the others, better formed, and more liberal. 
 They wear long hair over their cars, which gives them a good 
 appearance. They are esteemed good warriors, and so cunning 
 that they never return from their warlike excursions without 
 booty. They are quick to learn anything. Father Allouez told 
 me that they were so desirous to be instructed that they would 
 never give him any rest at night The Maskoutens and Kicka- 
 poos are more robust, and resemble our peasants more than the 
 former. As the bark of the birch tree is scarce in this country, 
 they are obliged to make their wigwams with rushes, which 
 serve as well for covering them as for walls. It must be owned 
 that they are convenient, for they take them down and carry 
 them wherever they please, without any trouble. 
 
 When f arrived there I was very glad to see a great cross, 
 set up in the middle of the village, adorned with several white 
 skins, red girdles, bows and arrows, which the converted Indians 
 had offered to the great Manitou, to return him their thanks for 
 the care he had taken of them during the winter, and granting 
 them a prosperous hunting. Manitou is the name they give in 
 general to all spirits whom they think to be above the nature of 
 man. I took pleasure in looking at this hoitrg. It is beautifully 
 situated on an eminence, from whence we look over an exten- 
 sive prairie, interspersed with groves of trees. The soil is very 
 fertile, and produces large crops of corn. The Indians also 
 gather large quantities of grapes and plums. As soon as we 
 had arrived we assembled the chiefs together, and informed 
 them that we had been sent by our governor to discover new 
 countries, and teach them the knowledge of their Creator, who 
 being absolute master of all his creatures will have all nations 
 to know him, and that therefore to comply with his will we did 
 not value our lives, and were willing to subject ourselves to 
 every kind of danger, adding that we wished them to furnish us 
 with two guides, and enforced our request with some presents, 
 which were kindly accepted by them, in riiturn for which they 
 gave us mats, with which we made our beds during the voyage. 
 They also furnished us with two guides to accompany us for 
 some days. 
 
 
 ;•»»!"■ sswiiSfeaj^;.: 
 
 -->fei!(i^S«^&*6Sfctf**'i'*^'^^'>--'*''S^ 
 
The next day, heinj; the loth of Jime, the two guides 
 {Miamies) eniharked with us in sij;ht of ail .he village, who were 
 astonished at our attempting so dangerous an expcdi'ion. We 
 were informed that at three leagues from the Mtukoutens, we 
 should find a river which runs into the Mississippi, and that we 
 were to go to the v ast-south-west to find it, but there were .-.o 
 many marshes and lakes, that if it had not been for our guides 
 we could not have found it. The river upon whicii we rowed 
 and had to carry our canoes from one to the other, looked more 
 like a corn-field than a river, insomuch that we could hardly find 
 its channel. As our guides had been f jquently at this portage, 
 they knew the way, and helped us to carry our canoes overland 
 into the other river, distant about two miles and a half ; from 
 whence they returned home, leaving us in an unknown country, 
 having nothing to rely upon but Divine Providence. We now 
 left the water: which extend to Quebec, about five or six 
 hundred leagues, to take those which would lead us hereafter 
 into strange lands. 
 
 Before embarking we all offered up prayers to the Holy 
 Virgin, which we continued to do every morning, placing our- 
 selves and the events of the journey under her protection, and 
 alter having encouraged each other, we got into our canoes. 
 The river upon which we embarked is called Mesconsin (Wis- 
 consin) ; the river is very \vid(!, but the sand bars make it very 
 difficult to navigate, which in increased by numerous islands 
 covered with grape vines. I'he country through which it flows 
 is be;iutiful ; the groves are so dispersed in the prairies that it 
 makes a noble prospect ; and the fruit of the trees shows a 
 fertile soil. These groves are full of walnut, oak, and other 
 trees unknown to us in Europe. We saw neither game nor fish, 
 but roebuck and buffaloes in great numbers. After having 
 navigated thirty leagues we discovered some iron mines, and 
 one of our company who had seen such mines before, said these 
 were very rich in ore. They are covered with about three feet 
 of soil, and situate near a chain of rocks, whose base is covered 
 with fine timber. After having rode ten leagues further, making 
 forty leagues from the place where we had embarked, we came 
 into the Mississippi on the 17th June (1673). 
 
 The mouth of the Mesconsin (Wisconsin) is in about 42^° 
 N. lat. Behold us, then, upon this celebrated river, whose 
 singularities I have attentively studied. The Mississippi takes 
 its rise in several lakes in the North. Its channel is very 
 narrow at the mouth of the Mesconsin, and runs south until it is 
 
 ^t ; t J. , , , 
 
the two guides 
 L' village, who were 
 
 ) expecliion. We 
 
 M. A/asA,iu/e»s, we 
 sippi, and that we 
 l)iit there were .-.o 
 
 en for our guides 
 n which we rowed 
 other, looked more 
 'e could hardly find 
 itly at this portage, 
 ir canoes overland 
 s and a half ; from 
 unknown country, 
 vidcnce. We now 
 about five or six 
 
 lead us hereafter 
 
 ayers to the Holy 
 rning, placing our- 
 ler protection, and 
 It into our canoes, 
 d Mesconsin (Wis- 
 bars make it very 
 ' numerous islands 
 ugh which it flows 
 the prairies that it 
 the trees shows a 
 nit, oak, and other 
 ther game nor fish, 
 rs. After having 
 le iron mines, and 
 s before, said these 
 h about three feet 
 3se base is covered 
 jes further, making 
 mbarked, we came 
 
 ) is in about 42^° 
 rated river, whose 
 Mississippi takes 
 5 channel is very 
 ms south until it is 
 
 .;* 
 
 '■•^ 
 
 5 
 
 affected by very higl-. iiills. Its current is slow, because of its 
 depth. In sounding we found nineteen fathoms of water. A 
 little further on it widens nearly three-quarters of a league, and 
 the width continues to be more equal. We slowly followed its 
 course to the south and south-east to the 42° N. lat. Here we 
 perceived the country change its appearance. There were 
 scarcely any more woods or mountains. 'I'he islands are 
 covered with fine trees, but we could not see any more roebucks, 
 buffaloes, bustards, and swans. We met from time to time 
 monstrous tish, which struck so violently against our canoes, 
 that at first we took them to be large trees, which threatened to 
 upset us. We saw also a hideous monster; his head was like 
 that of a tiger, his nose was sharp, and somewhat resembled a 
 .vildcat ; his beard was long ; his ears stood upright; the color 
 of his head was gray; and his neck black. He looked upon us 
 for some time, but as we came near him our oars frightened him 
 away. When we threw our nets into the water we caught an 
 abundance of sturgeons, and another kind of fish like our trout, 
 e,\cept that the eyes and nose are much smaller, and they have 
 near the nose a bone like a woman's busk, three inches broad 
 and a foot and a half long, the end of which is flat and broad, 
 and when it leaps out ol the water the weight of it throws it on 
 its back. 
 
 Having descended the river as far as 41° 28', we found that 
 turkeys look the place of game, and the Pisikious that of other 
 animals. We called the Pisikious wild buffaloes, because they 
 very much resemble our domestic oxen ; they are not so long, 
 but twice as large. We shot one of them, and it was as much 
 as thirteen men could do to drag him from the place where lie 
 fell. They have an enormous head, their forehead is broad and 
 flat, and their horns, between which there is at least a foot and 
 a half distance, are all black and much longer than our 
 European oxen. They have a hump on the back, and their 
 head, breast, and a pari of the shoulders are co.'ered with long 
 hair. They have in the middle of their forehead an ugly tuft of 
 long hair, which, falling down over their eyes, blinds them in a 
 manner, and makes them look hideous. I'he rest of the body 
 is covered with curled hair, or rather wool like our sheep, but 
 much thicker and stronger. They shed their hair in summer, 
 and their skin is as soft as velvet, leaving nothing but a short 
 down. The Indians use- their skins for cloaks, which they paint 
 with figures of several colors. Their flesh and fat is "xcellent, 
 and the best dish of the Indians, who kill a great many of them. 
 
 '■;* 
 
 
i 
 
 ff 
 
 Tliey are very fierce and danjjeroiis, and if they can book a man 
 with their horns, they toss iiiin up and then tre (1 upon him. 
 The Indians hide themselves when they shoot at them, other- 
 wise they would be in great danger of losing their lives. They 
 follow them al great distances till, by loss of blood, they are 
 unable to hurt or def'^nd themselves. They graze upon the 
 banks of rivers, and I have seen four hundred in a herd 
 together. 
 
 We continued to descend the river, not knowing where we 
 were going, and having made an hundred leagues without seeing 
 anything but wild beasts and birds, and being on our guard we 
 landed at night to make our fire and prepare our repast, and 
 then left the shore to anchor in tho river, while one of us 
 watched by turns to prevent a surprise. We went south and 
 south-west until we found ourselves in about the latitude of 40° 
 and some minutes, having rowed more than sixty leagues since 
 we entered the river. On the 25th June we went ashore, and 
 found some traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led 
 into a large prairie. We judged it led to an Indian village, and 
 concluded to examine it. We therefore left our canoes in 
 charge of our men, while M. Joliet and I went to explore it ; a 
 bold undertaking for two men in a savage country. We followed 
 this little path in silence about two leagues, when we discovered 
 a village on the banks of a river, and two others on a hill about 
 half a league from the first. We now commended ourselves to 
 God, and having implored his help, we came so near to the 
 Indians that we could hear them talk. We now thought it time 
 to make ourselves known to them by screaming aloud. At the 
 sound of our voices, the Indians left their huts, and probably 
 taking us for Frenchmen, one of us having a black robe on, and 
 seeing but two of us, and being warned of our arrival, they sent 
 four old men to speak to us, two of whom brought pipes, 
 ornamented with different colored feathers. Thev marched 
 slowly, without saying a word, but presenting their pipes to the 
 sun, as if they wished it to smoke them. 
 
 They were a long time coming from their .illage, but as 
 soon as they came near, they halted to take a view of us, and 
 seeing the ceremonies they performed, and especially seeing 
 them covered with cloth, we judged that they were our allies. 
 I then spoke to them, and they said that they were Illinois, and 
 as a sign of friendship they presented us their pipes to smoke. 
 They invited us to their village, where all the people had 
 impatiently waited for u^. These pipes are called by the 
 
 ■ftfcJ^wtrt^rwM*. 
 
 ■■■ T- '• i n n ti i r ii ffii i i ii U M ■ 
 
11 
 
 ,1 
 
 ley can hook a mnn 
 
 |n tre (1 upon him. 
 
 loot at thtMti, other- 
 
 their lives. They 
 
 of blood, they are 
 
 ley j;raze upon the 
 
 mndred in a herd 
 
 knowing where we 
 ijjues without seeing 
 g on our guard we 
 ue our repast, and 
 ', while one of us 
 Ve went south and 
 the latitude of 40' 
 sixty leagues since 
 vc went ashore, and 
 id a path which led 
 Indian village, and 
 left our canoes in 
 ^ent to explore it ; a 
 untry. We followed 
 when we discovered 
 hers on a hill about 
 landed ourselves to 
 ime so near to the 
 now thought it time 
 ling aloud. At the 
 r huts, and probably 
 1 black robe on, and 
 lur arrival, they sent 
 liom brought pipes, 
 rs. The^ marched 
 g their pipes to the 
 
 their .illage, but as 
 ke a view of us, and 
 d especially seeing 
 ey were our allies. 
 :y were Illinois, and 
 ir pipes to smoke, 
 ill the people had 
 are called by the 
 
 Indians calumets, and as this word is so common among them, 
 I sImII make use of it in future, when I want to speak of pipes. 
 At the door of the cabin in which we were to be re( eivcd, we 
 lound an old man in a very remarkable posture, which is the 
 usual ceremony in receiving strangers. Me was standing up, all 
 naked, with his hands lifted up to Heaven, as if he wished to 
 screen himself from the rays of the sun, which nevertheless 
 passed through his fingers to his face. When we came near to 
 him, he said, " What a fair day. Frenchmen, this is to come to 
 visit us ! All our people have wailed for thee, and thou shalt 
 enter our cabin in peace." He then look us into his, where 
 there were a crowd of people who devoured us with their eyes, 
 but who kept a profound silence. We only occasionally heaul 
 these words in a low voice, " These are our brothers who have 
 come to see us." 
 
 In June, 1541, the Mi.HHissiip])! river was iliscovered liy P'erdin.ind de 
 Soto, probably at the lowest Chick.isaw llliiff, twenty or thirty miles below 
 the mouth of the Arkansas river; and during the year, he may have e.\plorcd 
 tlie river as far north as the Missouri. The nc.\t May, he died upon its 
 banks. "His soldiers pronounced his eulof;y by grieving for their loss; 
 the priests chanted over his body the first retiuienis that were ever heard 
 on the waters of the Mississippi. To conceal his death, his body was 
 wrap|>ed in a mantle and, hi the stillness of midnight, wa.s silently sunk in 
 the middle of the stream. The discoverer of the Mississippi slept l)enealh 
 its w.-iters. He had crossed a large part of the continent in search of gold, 
 and found nothing so remarkable as his burial- place." 
 
 It was 132 years after the discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto 
 before Europeans again floated on its waters — again in the month of June, 
 but far to the north. These new discoverers were Frenchmen, Louis Jolict 
 and Father James Marquette. Joliet, who was born at (Juebec in 1645 and 
 educated in the Jesuit college there, was charged by Frontcnac, the gov- 
 ernor of Canada or New Francr, with the enterprise of finding the Mis- 
 sissippi — as being, wrote Fronlenac, "a man very experienced in these 
 kinds of discoveries, and who had l)ecn already very near this river." A 
 single assistant and a bark canoe were all the aid which the government 
 gave him. He reached the Straits of Mackinaw Dec. 8, 1672, and there 
 spent the winter with Father Marquette, a Jesuit mi.ssionary, who, driven 
 with his Huron flock from the head of Lake Superior by the .Sioux, had 
 founded the mission of St. Ignace and built a church more than a year 
 before. Marquette had already heard of the Mississippi from the lilinoi.s 
 Indians, and during the winter Joliet questioned Indianu who had seen the 
 
 f 
 
 rf 
 
 '• 
 
 k 
 
 I ",» 
 
 ■t«j»w*s»^» wj -ir, y i m i . i - r .^ w j fc ja a^t^^i' a-.lt;ia;;ag4 ^;;^^ 
 
river »n to h% coiirne anil the tritieii on its nhorpii. Thirty year* lieforo, 
 NIcolct had explored Wisconsin waltrs which Howcd into the (irfa/ It'i.ffr ; 
 and !Mf nimli liail liecomc known of the MUsiHNippi when Father Dablon 
 pul)li«hcd the A'l/ii/iom oi i6;o-'7i, with a map of Lake Superior, that he 
 alliideit to the MisHimiippi, in his dcitcription of the n>iip, an follows* ; "'I'o 
 thf /touth tlows the jjreat river, wliich Ihi-y rail the MiM»is>tippi, which can 
 have its inoiilh only in the Klorida mm, more than four hundred leagues 
 from here." Joliet anil Nfarqucttc drew up a rude map of the river from 
 such information aH they had ; and Marijuuttc, who eamrly embraced the 
 opportunity to accompany Joliet, entered in his notelMiok many fKcts of 
 possible value. " We took all possible precautions," he says, " that, if our 
 enterprise w.is hazardous, it should not lie fool-hardy." t)n May 17, 
 1673, *"'•'' '•*''-■ T''y<iM'eiirs and two birch-bark canoes, they set out. It 
 is from Marquette's own story of the voyage and discovery that the 
 passage given in the present leaflet is taken. The entire story, of 
 which not (piitc half is liere given, and which proceeds to recount 
 their voyage as far so..th as the Arkansas river and their return by the 
 Illinois river to the jiresent site of Chicago on Lake Michigan, will 
 presently be added to the f;tiier,U series of Old South I.eatlets. It may 
 be found in Shea's Disforery and Kxf'/onitioii of Hit Mississififi I'alley, 
 together with a fac-sinule of the interesting map drawn by Father Mar(|uette 
 at the time. It may also Ik; found in French's llistoricat Colledions of 
 Loui.:iatM, part ii, (1850). .Mr. Shea's book gives a biography of Marquette, 
 containing valuable extract.s from hi.s accounts of his missionary work 
 among the Indians by lake Superior, and also translations of many import- 
 tant original papers illustrating the careers in the West of Father Hablon, 
 Father Allouez, F'ather Hennepin, and that most ambitious and adventurous 
 of all the Frenchmen in the great West, I.a Salle. There are lives of both 
 La Salle and Marquette, by Sparks. Mr. Winsor's chapter on " Joliet, 
 Marquette and La Salle," in the Narrative and Critical History of America, 
 vol, iv, is invaluable for its bibliographical references. Hut here, too, Park- 
 man is still the popular writer. His La Salle and the Discen^ery of the Great 
 West contains a special chapter (chap, v) on Joliet and Marquette's discovery 
 of the Mississippi. 
 
 
^ 
 
 W^fF 
 
 I 
 
 I. 'I'hirty year* l)eforf, 
 ;l into the- (,'>f,i/ U'l.lfr ; 
 \i\ wlu'ii Father Diihlmi 
 Lake Sii|K>rior, that he 
 miip, an follows : "To 
 MiHHiHHippi, which can 
 II four hundred leagiiCH 
 map of the river from 
 [) caj{iily embraced the 
 iitelMiolc manv f;*ctx of 
 " he sayst, " that, if our 
 hardy." On May 17, 
 IOCS, they set out. It 
 md disiruvery that the 
 The entire story, of 
 I procecdn to recount 
 nd their return by the 
 I I,al(e Miclii);an, will 
 outh I.eatiets. It may 
 ' t/i* Mhsissififii f 'itlUy, 
 Nn by Father Mar(|uette 
 (istorical Collections of 
 >iography of Mar(|uette, 
 if his missionary work 
 ilations of many import- 
 ^'est of Father Dablon, 
 bitious ami adventurous 
 There are lives of both 
 ■'s chapter on " Joliet, 
 kal History of Anttrica, 
 I. Hut here, too, Park- 
 i Discm'ery of tkt Great 
 A Marquette's discovery 
 
 (DID ^oiitli UraflrtjT. 
 
 .>»l':VKNTII .SKHIK->, iHM,,. No. j. 
 
 Mr. Parkman's 
 Histories. 
 
 CHAMPLAIN ON TIIK COAST OF \F\V KNfW.ANI). 
 
 Weary of St. Croix, De Monts resolved to seek out a more 
 auspicious site, on which to rear the capital of his wilderness 
 dominion. During the preceding Septen)l)er, Chainplain had 
 ranged the westward coast in a pinnace, visited and named the 
 island of Mount Desert, and entered the mouth of the river 
 Penobscot, called i)y him tiie Pemetigoet, or Penlegoet, and 
 jireviously known to fiir-traders and fishermen as the Norem- 
 bega, a name which it shared with all the adjacent region.' 
 Now, i'ml)arking a second time, in a bark of fifteen tons, with 
 De Monts, several genileinen, twenty sailors, -•." ' an Indian 
 with his squaw, he set forth on the eighteenth of June (1605) 
 on a second voyage of discovery. They coasted the strangely 
 indented shores of Maine, with its reefs and surf-washed islands, 
 rocky headlands, and deep embosomed bays, passed Moimt 
 Desert and the Penobscot, explored the mouths of the Kenne- 
 bec, crossed Casco Hay, and desc:ied the distant peaks of the 
 White Mountains. The ninth of July brought them to Saco 
 Bay. They were now within the limits of a group of tribes who 
 were called by the French the Armouchiquois, and who included 
 tho.se whom the English afterwards called the Massachusetts. 
 They differed in habits as well as in language from the Etech- 
 emins and Micmacs of Acadia, for they were lillers of the soil, 
 and around their wigwams were fields of maize, beans, pump- 
 
 -<••. 
 
 ■ The earliest maps and narratives indicate a city, also called Noi;m- 
 bega, on the banks of the Penobscot. The pilot, Jean Alphonse, of Sain- 
 tonge, says that this fabulous city is fifteen or twenty leagues from the sea, 
 and that its inhal.itants are of small stature antl dark complexion. As 
 late as 1607 the fable was repeated in the I/isioire Universale ties /tides 
 Occidentales. 
 
 1%^vf0S!S»^^^^*'*^ 
 
kins, squashes, tobrcco, and the so-called Jerusa'eni artichoke. 
 Near Prout's Neck, more than eighty of them ran down to the 
 shore to meet the strangers, dancing and yeljiing to show their 
 joy. They had a fort of palisades on a rising ground by the 
 Saco, for they were at deadly war with their neighbors towards 
 the east. 
 
 On the twelfth, the French resumed their voyage, and, like 
 some adventurous party of pleasure, held their course by the 
 beaches of York and Wells, Portsmouth Harbor, the Isles of 
 Shoals, Rye Beach and Hampton Beach, till, on the fift •enth, 
 they descried the dim outline of Cape Ann. Champlain called 
 it Cap aux Isles, from the three adjacent islands, and in a sub- 
 sequent voyage he gave the name of Beauport to the neighbor- 
 ing harbor of Gloucester. Thence steering southward and 
 westward, they entered Massachusetts Bay, gave the name of 
 Rivifere du Guast to a river flowing into it, probably the Charles; 
 passed the islands of Boston Harbor, which Champlain describes 
 as covered with trees, and were met on the way by great num- 
 bers of canoes filled with astonished Indians. On Sunday, the 
 seventeenth, they passed Point Allerton and Nantasket Beach, 
 coasted the shores of Cohasset, Scituate, and Marshfield, and 
 anchored for the night near Brant Point. On the morning of 
 the eighteenth, a head wind forced them to take shelter in Port 
 St. Louis, for so they called the harbor of Plymouth, where the 
 Pilgrims made their memorable landing fifteen years later. 
 Indian wigwams and garden patches lined the shore. A troop 
 of the inhabitants came down to the beach and danced, whi'.e 
 others, who had been fishing, approached in :heir canoes, came 
 on board the vessel, and showed Champlain their fish-hooks, 
 consisting of a barbed bone lashed at an acute angle to a slip 
 of wood. 
 
 From Plymouth the party circled round the bay, doubled 
 Cape Cod, called by Champlain Cap Blanc, from its glisten'ng 
 white sands, and steered southward to Nausett Harbor, "•'ach, 
 by reason of its shoals and sand-bars, they named Port Malle- 
 barre. Here their prosperity deserted them. A party of sail- 
 ors went behind the sand-banks to find fresh water at a spring, 
 when an Indipn snatched a kettle from one of them, and its 
 owner, pursuing, fell, pierced with arrows by the robber's com- 
 rades. The French in the vessel opened fire. Champlain's 
 arquebuse burst, and was near killing him, while the Indians, 
 swift as deer, quickly gained the woods. Several of the tribe 
 chanced ^o be on board the vessel, but flung themselves with 
 
;rusa'em artichoke. 
 :m ran down to the 
 
 ping to show their 
 iing ground by the 
 
 neighbors towards 
 
 r voyage, and, like 
 
 leir course by the 
 
 arbor, the Isles of 
 
 11, on the fift'enth, 
 
 Champlain called 
 
 inds, and in a sub- 
 
 )rt to the neighbor- 
 
 ng southward and 
 
 , gave the name of 
 
 obably the Charles; 
 
 hainplain describes 
 
 way by great num- 
 
 1. On Sunday, the 
 
 1 Nantasket Beach, 
 
 nd Marshfield, and 
 
 On the morning of 
 
 take shelter in Port 
 
 Plymouth, where the 
 
 fifteen years later. 
 
 the shore. A troop 
 
 1 and danced, whi'.e 
 
 :heir canoes, came 
 
 lin their fish-hooks, 
 
 ;ute angle to a slip 
 
 id the bay, doubled 
 , from its glisten'iig 
 isett Harbor, "-'.ich, 
 named Port Malle- 
 n. A party of sail- 
 1 water at a spring, 
 le of them, and its 
 y the robber's com- 
 fire. Champlain's 
 while the Indians, 
 several of the tribe 
 ng themselves with 
 
 such alacrity into the water that only one was caught. They 
 bound him hand and foot, but soon after humanely set him at 
 liberty. 
 
 Champlain, who we are told "delighted marvellously in 
 these enterprises," had busied himself throughout the voyage 
 with taking observations, making charts, and studying the won 
 ders of land and sea. The "horse-foot crab" seems to have 
 awakened his special curiosity, and he describes it with amusing 
 exactness. Of the human tenants of the New England coast 
 he has also left the first precise and trustworthy account. They 
 were clearly m6re numerous than when the Puritans landed at 
 Plymouth, since in the interval a pestilence made great havoc 
 among them. But Champlain's most conspicuous merit lies in 
 the light that he tiiicw into the dark places of American geog- 
 raphy, and the order that he brought out of the chaos of Amer- 
 ican cartography, for it was a result of this and the rest of his 
 voyages that precision and clearness began at last to supplant 
 • he vagueness, confusion, and contradiction of the earlier map- 
 makers. — From 27u Pioneers of France in the New World. 
 
 LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. r 
 
 We turn from the humble Marquette, thanking God with 
 his last breath that he died for his Order and his Faith ; and by 
 our side stands the masculine form of Cavelier de la Salle. 
 Prodigious was the contrast between the two discoverers : the 
 one, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure 
 evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship ; the other, 
 with feet firm planted on the hard earth, breathes the self- 
 relying energies of modern practical enterprise. Nevertheless, 
 La Salle's enemies called him a visionary. His projects per- 
 plexed and startled them. At first, they ridiculed him ; and 
 then, as step by step he advanced towards his purpose, they 
 denounced and maligned him. What was this purpose? It 
 was not of sudden growth, but developed as years went on. 
 La Salle at La Chine dreamed of a western passage to China, 
 and nursed vague schemes of western discovery. Then, when 
 his earlier journeyings revealed to him the valley of the Ohio 
 and the fertile plains of Illir.ois, his imagination took wing over 
 the boundless prairies and forests drained by the great river of 
 the West. His ambition had found its field. He would leave 
 
 ■m^^ 
 
r^ 
 
 barren and frozen Canada behind, and lead France and civiliza- 
 tion into tiie valley of the Mississippi. Neither the English nor 
 the Jesuits should conquer that rich domain : the one must rest 
 content with the country east of the Alleghanies, and the other 
 with the forests, savages, and beaver-skins of the northern lakes. 
 It was for him to cal! into light the latent riches of the great 
 West. But the way to his land of promise was rough and long : 
 it lay through Canada, filled with hostile traders and hostile 
 priests, and barred by ice for half the year. The difficulty was 
 soon solved. La Salle became convinced that the Mississippi 
 flowed, not into the Pacific or the Gulf of California, but into 
 the Gulf of Mexico. By a fortified post at its mouth, he could 
 guard it against both English and Spaniards, and secure for the 
 trade of the interior an access and an outlet under his own con- 
 trol, and open at every season. Of this trade, the hides of the 
 bufTalo would at first form the staple ; and, along with furs, 
 would reward the enterprise till other resources should be 
 developed. 
 
 Such were the vast projects that unfolded themselves in 
 the mind of La Salle. Canada must needs be, at the outset, 
 his base of action, and without the support of its authorities he 
 could do nothing. This support he found. From the moment 
 when Count Frontenac assumed the government of the colony, 
 he seems to have looked with favor on the young discoverer. 
 There were points of likeness between the two men. Both 
 were ardent, bold, and enterprising. The irascible and fiery 
 pride of the noble found its match in the reserved and seem- 
 ingly cold pride of the ambitious burgher. Each could com- 
 prehend the other; and they had, moreover, strong prejudices 
 and dislikes in common. An understanding, not to say an 
 alliance, soon grew up between them. 
 
 Frontenac had come to Canada a ruined man. He was 
 ostentatious, lavish, and in no way disposed to let slip an 
 opportunity of mending his fortune. He presently thought that 
 he had found a plan by which he could serve both the colony 
 and himself. His predecessor, Courcelle, had urged upon the 
 king the expediency of building a fort on Lake Ontario, in 
 order to hold the Iroquois in check and intercept the trade 
 which the tribes of the Upper Lakes had begun to carry on 
 with the Dutch and English of New York. Thus, a stream of 
 wealth would be turned into Canada, which would otherwise 
 enrich her enemies. Here, to all appearance, was a great 
 public good, and from the military point of view it was so in 
 
•"ranee ami civiliza- 
 ler the English nor 
 
 the one must rest 
 niies, and the other 
 the northern lakes, 
 riches cf the great 
 as rough and long : 
 raders and hostile 
 
 The difficulty was 
 hat the Mississippi 
 California, but into 
 its mouth, he could 
 and secure for the 
 under his own con- 
 de, the hides of the 
 d, along with furs, 
 sources should be 
 
 )lded themselves in 
 
 s be, at the outset, 
 
 of its authorities he 
 
 From the moment 
 
 ment of the colony, 
 
 e young discoverer. 
 
 le two men. Both 
 
 irascible and fiery 
 
 reserved and seem- 
 
 Each could com- 
 
 !r, strong prejudices 
 
 ling, not to say an 
 
 ined man. He was 
 
 osed to let slip an 
 
 esently thought that 
 
 rve both the colony 
 
 lad urged upon the 
 
 n Lake Ontario, in 
 
 intercept the trade 
 
 begun to carry on 
 
 Thus, a stream of 
 
 ch would otherwise 
 
 ranee, was a great 
 
 )f view it was so in 
 
 5 
 
 fact; but it was clear that the trade thus secured might be 
 made to profit, not the colony at large, but those alone who 
 had control of the fort, which would then become the instru- 
 ment of a monopoly. This the governor understood ; and, 
 without doubt, he meant that the projected establishment 
 should pay him tribute. How far he and La Salle were acting 
 in concurrence at this time, it is not easy to say ; but Frontenac 
 often took counsel of the explorer, who, on his part, saw in the 
 design a possible first step towards the accomplishment of his 
 own far-reaching schemes. — From La Salle and the Discovery of 
 the Gnat West. 
 
 THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES IN CANADA. 
 
 Canada was a true child of the Church, baptized in infancy 
 and faithful to the last. Champlain, the founder of Quebec, a 
 man of noble spirit, a statesman and a soldier, was deeply 
 imbued with fervid piety. " The saving of a soul," he would 
 often say, " is worth more than the conquest of an empire ; " 
 and to forward the work of conversion, he brought with him 
 four Franciscan monks from France. At a later period, the 
 task of colonization would have been abandoned, but for the 
 hope of casting the pure light of the faith over the gloomy 
 wastes of heathendom. AH France was filled with the zeal of 
 proselylism. Men and women of exalted rank lent their coun- 
 tenance to the holy work. From many an altar daily petitions 
 were offered for the well-being of the mission ; and in the Holy 
 House of Mont-Martre, a nun lay prostrate day and night 
 before the shrine, praying for the conversion of Canada, In 
 one convent, thirty nuns offered themselves for the labors of 
 the wilderness; and priests flocked in crowds to the colony. 
 The powers of darkness took alarm ; and when a ship, freighted 
 with the apostles of the faith, was tempest-tost upon her voyage, 
 the storm was ascribed to the malice of demons, trembling for 
 the safety of their ancient empire. 
 
 The general enthusiasm was not without its fruits. The 
 Church could pay back with usury all that she received of aid 
 and encouragement from the temporal power; and the ambition 
 of Richelieu could not have devised a more efficient enginery 
 for the accomplishment of its schemes, than that supplied by 
 the zeal of the devoted propagandists. The priest and the 
 soldier went hand in hand ; and the cross and the Jleur de lis 
 were planted side by side. 
 
 I 
 
 ^:. itJ i m,vi^ iif ^:} -_ 
 
 ...jtssm^tM^" 
 
Foremost among the envoys of the faith were the mem- 
 bers of that mighty order, who, in another hemisphere, had 
 already done so much to turn back the advancing tide of relig- 
 ious freedom, and strengthen the atm of Rome. To the 
 Jesuits was assigned, for many years, the entire charge of the 
 Canadian missions, to the exclusion of the Franciscans, early 
 laborers in the same barren field. Inspired with a self-devoting 
 zeal to snatch souls from perdition, and win new empires to the 
 cross, casting from them every hope of earthly pleasure or 
 earthly aggrandizement, the Jesuit fathers buried themselves in 
 deserts, facing death with the courage of heroes, and enduring 
 torments with the constancy of martyrs. Their story is replete 
 with marvels — miracles of patient suffering and daring enter- 
 prise. They were the pioneers of Northern America. We see 
 them among the frozen forests of Acadia, struggling on snow- 
 shoes, with some wandering Algonquin horde, or crouching in 
 the crowded hunting-lodge, half stifled in the smoky den, and 
 battling with troops of Famished dogs for the last morsel of 
 sustenance. Again we see the black-robed priest wading among 
 the white rapids of the Ottawa, toiling with his savage comrades 
 to drag the canoe against the headlong wate Again, radiant 
 in the vestments of his priestly office, he administers the sacra- 
 mental bread to kneeling crowds of plumed and painted prose- 
 lytes in the forests of the Hurons ; or, bearing his life in his 
 hand, carries his sacred mission into the strongholds of the 
 Iroquois, like one who invades unarmed a den of angry tigers. 
 Jesuit explorers traced the St. Lawrence to its source, and said 
 masses among the solitudes of Lake Superior, where the bold- 
 est fur-trader scarcely dared to follow. They planted missions 
 at St. Mary's and at Michillimackinac ; and onp of their frater- 
 nity, the illustrious Marquette, discovered the Mississippi, and 
 opened a new theatre to the boundless ambition of France. — 
 From The Conspiracy of Pontiac. 
 
 CANADIAN FEUDALISM. 
 
 At the base of Canadian society was the feudal tenure. 
 European feudalism was the indigenous and natural growth of 
 political and social conditions which preceded it. Canadian 
 feudalism was an offshoot of the feudalism of France, modified 
 by the lapse of centuries, and further modified by the royal 
 will. 
 
1 
 
 ith were the niem- 
 :r hemisphere, had 
 ncing tide of relig- 
 f Rome, To the 
 ntire charge of the 
 Franciscans, early 
 with a self-devoting 
 new empires to the 
 earthly pleasure or 
 uried themselves in 
 roes, and enduring 
 heir story is replete 
 and daring enter- 
 America. We see 
 itruggling on snow- 
 de, or crouching in 
 the smoky den, and 
 the last morsel of 
 Driest wading among 
 lis savage comrades 
 te. Again, radiant 
 ministers the sacra- 
 and painted prose- 
 aring his life in his 
 strongholds of the 
 den of angry tigers, 
 its source, and said 
 ior, where the bold- 
 ley planted missions 
 onf of their frater- 
 the Mississippi, and 
 bition of France. — 
 
 ; the feudal tenure. 
 i natural growth of 
 eded it. Canadian 
 of France, modified 
 iified by the royal 
 
 In France, as in the rest of Europe, the system had lost its 
 vitality. The warrior-nobles who placed Hugh Capet on the 
 throne, and began the feudal monarchy, formed an aristocratic 
 republic, and the king was one of their number, whom they 
 chose to be their chief. But, through the struggles and vicis- 
 situdes of many succeeding reigns, royalty had waxed and 
 oligarchy had waned. The fact had changed and the theory 
 had changed with it. The king, once powerless among a host of 
 turbulent nobles, was now a king indeed. Once a chief, 
 because his equals had made him so, he was now the anointed 
 of the Lord. This triumph of royalty had culminated in Louis 
 XIV. The stdrmy energies and bold individualism of the old 
 feudal nobles had ceased to e;ast. They who had held his 
 predecessors in awe had become his obsequious servants. He 
 no longer feared his nobles ; he prized them as gorgeous 
 decorations of his court, and satellites of his royal person. 
 
 It was Richelieu who first planted feudalism in Canada. 
 The king would preserve it there, because with its teeth drawn 
 he was fond of it, and because, as the feudal tenure prevailed in 
 Old France, it was natural that it "hould prevail also in the 
 New. Bat he continued as Richelieu had begun, and moulded 
 it to the form that pleased him. Nothing was left which could 
 threaten his absolute and undivided authority over the colony. 
 In France, a multitude of privileges and prescriptions still clung, 
 despite its fall, about the ancient ruling class. Few of these 
 were allowed to cross the Atlantic, while the old, lingering 
 abuses, which had made the system odious, were at the same 
 ti.Tie lopped away. Thus retrenched, Canadian feudalism was 
 made to serve a double end ; to produce a faint and harmless 
 reflection of French aristocracy, and simply and practically to 
 supply agencies for distributing land among the settlers. — From 
 Tike Old Rigitne in Canada. 
 
 THE STRUGGLE OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE FOR 
 AMERICA. 
 
 It is the nature of great events to obscure the great events 
 that came before them. The Seven Years War in Europe is 
 seen but dimly through revolutionary convulsions and Napo- 
 leonic tempests; and thd same contest in America is half lost 
 to sight behind the storm-cloud of the War of Independence. 
 Few at this day see the momentous issues involved in it, or the 
 
 t 
 
 
 iWi" ■7-i'fi"Hiii>^*^ 
 
M 
 
 8 
 
 greatness of the danger that it averted. The strife that armed 
 all the civilized world began here. " Such was the complication 
 of political interests," says Voltaire, " that a cannon-shot fired 
 in America could give the signal that set Europe in a blaze." 
 Not quite. It was not a cannon-shot, but a volley from the 
 hunting pieces of a fe\.' backwoodsmen, commanded by a Vir- 
 ginian youth, George Washington. 
 
 To us of this day, the result of the American part of the 
 war seems a foregone conclusion. It was far from being so ; 
 and very far from being so regarded by our forefathers. The 
 numerical superiority of the British colonies was offset by 
 organic weaknesses fatal to vigorous and united action. Nor 
 at the outset did they, or the mother-country, aim at conquering 
 Canada, but only at pushing back her boundaries. Canada — 
 using the name in its restricted sense — was a position of great 
 strength ; and even when her dependencies were overcome, she 
 could hold her own against forces far superior. Armies could 
 reach her only by three routes, — the Lower St. Lawrence on 
 the east, the Upper St. Lawrence on the west, and Lake Cham- 
 plain on the south. The first access was guarded by a fortress 
 almost impregnable by nature, and the second by a long chain 
 of dangerous rapids ; while the third offered a series of points 
 easy to defend. During this same war, Frederic of Prussia 
 held his ground triumphantly against greater odds, though his 
 kingdom was open on all sides to attack. 
 
 It was the fatuity of Louis XV. and his Pompadour that 
 made the conquest of Canada possible. Had they not broken 
 the traditionary policy of France, allied themselves to A istria, 
 her ancient enemy, and plunged needlessly into the European 
 war, the whole force of the kingdom would have been turned, 
 from the first, to the humbling of England and the defence of 
 the French colonies. The French soldiers left dead on inglo- 
 rious Continental battle-fields could have saved Canada, and 
 perhaps made good her claim to the vast territories of the West. 
 
 But there were other contingencies. The jxissession of 
 Canada was a question of diplomacy as well as of war. If Eng- 
 land conquered her, she might restore her, as she haid lately 
 restored Cape Breton. She had an interest in keeping France 
 alive on the American continent. More than one clear eye 
 saw, at the middle of the last century, that the subjection of 
 Canada would lead to a revolt of the British colonies. So long 
 as an active and enterprising enemy threatened their borders, 
 they could not break with the mother-country, because they 
 
 a itwiW'ijiiii i M»i; i KniwMji a i,ia)H.^ ,1 
 
 ■m 
 
he strife that armed 
 
 \^as the complication 
 
 a cinnon-shot fired 
 
 Europe in a blaze." 
 
 lit a volley from the 
 
 ommanded by a Vir- 
 
 Vmerican part of the 
 > far from being so ; 
 )ur forefathers. The 
 onies was offset by 
 united action. Nor 
 ry, aim at conquering 
 mdaries. Canada — 
 as a position of great 
 s were overcome, she 
 erior. Armies could 
 wer St. Lawrence on 
 est, and Lake Cham- 
 guarded by a fortress 
 ;ond by a long chain 
 2d a series of points 
 Frederic of Prussia 
 Iter odds, though his 
 
 his Pompadour that 
 Had they not broken 
 emselves to A istria, 
 ly into the European 
 d have been turned, 
 
 I and the defence of 
 s left dead on inglo- 
 ; saved Canada, and 
 :rritories of the West. 
 
 The |X)ssession of 
 
 II as of war. If Eng- 
 ;r, as she had lately 
 5t in keeping France 
 
 than one clear eye 
 lat the subjection of 
 sh colonies. So long 
 itened their borders, 
 auntry, because they 
 
 needed her help. And if the arms of France had prospered in 
 the other hemisphere ; if she had gained in Europe or Asia 
 territories with which to buy back what she had lost in Amer- 
 ica, then, in all likelihood, Canada would have passed again 
 into her hands. 
 
 The most momentous and far-reaching question ever 
 brought to issue on this continent was : Shall France remain 
 here, or shall ii'ie not? If, by diplomacy or war, she had pre- 
 served but the half, or less than the half, of her American 
 possessions, tljen a barrier would have been set to the spread 
 of the English-speaking races ; there would have been no Revo- 
 lutionary War ; and for a long time, at least, no independence. 
 It was not a question of scanty populations strung along the 
 banks of the St. Lawrence ; it was -.-or under a government of 
 any worth it would have been — a question of the armies and 
 generals of France. America owes much to the imbecility of 
 Louis XV. and the ambitious vanity and personal dislikes of his 
 mistress. 
 
 The Seven Years War made England what she is. It 
 crippled the commerce of her rival, ruined France in two con- 
 tinents, and blighted her as a colonial power. It gave England 
 the control of the seas and the mastery of North America and 
 India, made her the first of commercial nations, and prepared 
 that vast colonial system that has planted new Englands in 
 every quarter of the globe. And while it made England what 
 she is, it supplied to the United States the indispensable con- 
 dition of their greatness, if not of their national existence.— 
 From Montcalm and Wolfe. 
 
 At the present time, when we are engaged in the study of those sub- 
 jects in our American history which are related to the history of Frr.nce or 
 Into Which the French element enters, we art made to realize anew our great 
 and peculiar obligations to Francis Parkman. In our studies of the earlier 
 period, it is always his books which are our principal companions. Cham- 
 plain, La Salle, the Jesuits, Wolfe and Montcalm — whoever it may be that 
 we are studying, in that old Canadian and ' ^'estern life, Parkman is our 
 constant and best guide. It is a period of history which he has made his 
 own, and with which his naipe will be always connected. In his tre?\tment 
 'of it, through the long row of volumes that stand on the shelf, he has 
 brought to the work almost every quality which goes to constitute the good 
 historian — thorough scholarship, indefatigable industry, a philosophic com- 
 prehension of his subject in all its bearings, a contagious enthusiasm, a vital 
 
 
lO 
 
 imagination, antl rare literary power. I Us series of woiUs on France and 
 England in North America holds n place in our historical literatnre which 
 is unique. No work which ha.s been done in our history has a higher value. 
 
 At the age of eighteen, as he tells us himself in the preface to Fronle- 
 nac — he was horn in Hoston in 1S23, and has always lived in lioston — I'ark- 
 min formed the purpose of writing on French- American history. " I meant 
 at first," he says, " to limit myself to the great contest which brought that 
 history to a close. It was by an a'ter thought that the pl.tn was extended 
 to cover the whole field, so that the part of the work, or series of works, 
 first conceived would, following the sequence of events, be the last exe- 
 cuted." The material for the volumes on Montcalm and Wolfe, the last 
 volumes published, was the material which he first began to collect. The 
 work first published was that on l^he Conspiracy of Pontiac, belonging to 
 the period after the P'rench War, in 1851. The succeeding volumes have 
 appeared in the following order : T/ie Pioneers of France in the A^cto World, 
 1865; The Jesuits in North America, [867 ; La Salle and the Discovery of 
 th: Great West, 1869; The Old Regime in Canada, 1874; Count Frontenac 
 and New France under Louis XIV, \'i-ji ; Montcalm and Wolfe, to which 
 he proposed at one time to give the sul)- title of The Fall oj Nexu France, in 
 1884. The Oregon Trad, the record of " a summer's adventures of two 
 youths just out of college " and bearing no relation to the general historical 
 series on France and England in A'orth America, first appeared as a scries of 
 sketches in the Knicherbocktr Magazine, in 1847. The adventures recorded 
 in these sketches did, however, take Parkman and his companion to the 
 Rocky Mountains and among the Indians, and \mdoubtedly affected his 
 imagination and added to his knowledge in ways that made Ihem a distinct 
 preparation for his great historical work, as indeed he himself lets us under- 
 stand by a word in the preface to The Conspiracy of Pontiac. The following 
 picturesque passage from the preface which he supplied to The Oregon 
 Trail in 1872 is of interest in this connection : 
 
 " 1 remember that, as we rode by the foot of Pike's I'eak, when for a 
 fortnight we met no face of man, my companion remarked, in a tone any 
 thing but complacent, that a time would come when those plains would be a 
 gracing country, the buffalo give place to tame cattle, farm-houses be scat- 
 tered along the water-courses, and wolves, bears, and Indians be numbered 
 among the tnings that were. We condoled with each other on so melan- 
 choly a prospect, but we little thought what the future had in store. We 
 knew that there was more or less gold in the seams of those untrodden 
 mountains ; but we did not foresee that it would build cities in the waste 
 and plant hotels and gambling-houses among the haunts of the grizzly bear. 
 We knew that a few fanatical outcasts were groping their way across the 
 plains to seek an asylum from gentile persecution ; but we did not imagine 
 that the polygamous hordes of Mormon would rear a swarming Jerusalem 
 in the bosom of solitude itself. We knew that, more and more, year after 
 year, the trains of emigrant wagons would creep in slow procession towards 
 barbarous Oregon or wild and distant California ; but we did not dream how 
 
of woils on France and 
 liisloriciil literature which 
 
 istory has a higher value. 
 
 in the preface to Frontt- 
 ived in Uoston — I'ark- 
 ?rican history. " I meant 
 nttst which brought that 
 It the plan was extended 
 ivork, or serie.i of works, 
 
 events, he the last exe- 
 
 aim anJ Wol/t, the last 
 St l)egan to collect. The 
 
 of PontiiU, bclonfjing to 
 succeeding volumes have 
 '''ranee in the .Yeiu lyor/d, 
 ille and the Discotiery of 
 I, 1S74; Count Fronteniu- 
 <i/m and iro/fe, to which 
 '/le Fall oj Neio Frame, in 
 iner's adventures of two 
 
 I to the general historical 
 rst appeared as a series of 
 The adventures recorded 
 nd his companion to the 
 undoubtedly affected his 
 lat made them a distnict 
 
 he himself lets us under- 
 f Ponliac. The following 
 iupi)Iied to T/tt Oregon 
 
 Pike's Peak, when for a 
 remarked, in a tone any 
 
 II these plains would be a 
 tie, farm- houses be scat- 
 nd Indians be numbered 
 each other on so melan- 
 Jture had in store. We 
 ams of those untrodden 
 build cities in the waste 
 lunts of the grizzly bear, 
 ing their way across the 
 but we did not imagine 
 r a swarming Jerusalem 
 )re and more, year after 
 slow procession towards 
 it we did not dream how 
 
 II 
 
 ("ommerce and (lold would breed nations along the Pacific, the disenchant- 
 ing screech of the locomotive break the spell of weird mysterious mountains, 
 woman's rights invade the fastnesses of the Arapalioes, and despairing sav- 
 agery, assailed in front and rear, vail its scal|)-locks and feathers before 
 triumphant commonplace. We were no prophets to foresee all this ; and, 
 had we foreseen it, perhaps some perverse regrets might have tempered the 
 ardor of our rejoicing. The wild cavalcade that defiled with me down the 
 gorges of the Klack Hills, with its paint and war-plumes, fluttermg trophies 
 and savage eml)roidery, bows, arrows, lances, and shields, will never be seen 
 again. Those who formed it have found blootly graves, or a ghastlier burial 
 in the maws of wolves. The Indian of today, armed with a revolver and 
 crowned with an old hat ; cased, possibly, in trousers or muffed in a taw- 
 dry shirt, is an Indian still, liut an Indian shorn of the picturcs(|uene!is 
 which was his most conspicuous merit. The mountain trap|)er is no more, 
 and the grim romance of his wild, hard life is a memory of the past." 
 
 In the introductions to several of his volumes Mr. Parkman has inci- 
 dentally revealed to us his aims and methods, in passages so interesting and 
 so valuable to the historical student that a few passages may here be cited. 
 His aim, he tells us, in the introduction to The Pioneers of France in the 
 Ntiv World, " was, while scrupulously and rigorously adhering to the truth 
 of facts, to animate them with the life of the past and, so far as might l>e, 
 clothe the skeleton with flesh. If," he says, "at times it may seem that 
 range has been allowed to fancy, it is so in appearance only ; since the 
 minutest details of narrative or description rest on authentic aocuments or 
 on personal observation. Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far 
 more than a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. 
 Such facts may be detailed with the most minute exactness, and yet the 
 narrative, taken as a whole, may be unmeaning or untrue. The narrator 
 must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the lime. He must 
 study events in their bearings near and remote ; in the character, habits, 
 and manners uf those who took part in them. He must himself be, as it 
 were, a sharer or a spectator of the action he describes." 
 
 Ktiually interesting is this passage from the preface to The Conspiracy 
 of Pontiac, written fourteen years earlier, in 1851 : 
 
 " It is evident that other study than that of the closet is indispensable to 
 success in such an attempt. Habits of early reading had greatly aided to 
 prepare me for the task ; but necessary knowledge of a more practical kind 
 has been supplied by the indulgence of a strong natural taste, which, at 
 various intervals, led me to the wild regions of the north and west. Here, 
 by the camp-fire, or in the canoe, I gained familiar acquaintance with the 
 men and .scenery of the wilderness. In 1846, I visited various primitive 
 tribes of the Rocky Mountains, and was, for a time, domesticated in a vil- 
 lage of the western Uahcotah, on the high plains between Mount Laramie 
 and the range of the Medicine Bow. The most troublesome part of the 
 task was the collection of the necessary documents. These consisted of let- 
 ters, journals, reports, and despatches, scattered among numerous public 
 offices, and i)rivate families, in Kurope and America. When brought to- 
 gether, they amounted to about three thousand four hundred manuscript 
 pages. Contemporary newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets have also 
 l)een examined, and careful search made for every Ijook which, directly or 
 indirectly, might throw light upon the subject, f have visited the sites of 
 
 i 
 
IS 
 
 'V_ 
 
 v.-.) 
 
 all the principal events recorded in tlie narrative, and K'it'>ered niiclt local 
 traditions as seemed worthy of tontidcncc. . . . 'I'lie crude and promiH- 
 ciiotis niasH of materials presented an aspect hy no means inviliii);. The 
 field of the history was uncultured and iinrcclaiiued, and tlie labor that 
 awaited me was like that of the border seltlcr, who, before he builds his 
 runted dwelling, must fell the forest trees, burn the undcrftrowlli, clear the 
 ground, and hew the fallen trunks to ilue proportion. Several obstacles 
 nave retarded the |)rogress of the work. Of these, one of the most ctm- 
 sider.ible was the condition of niv night. Kor about three years, the light 
 of tlay was insupportable, and every attempt at reading or writing com- 
 pletely debarred. Under these circumstances, the task of silting the 
 materials and composing the work was begun and fniishcd. The papers 
 were rejjeatedly read aloud by an aniaiuiensis, copious notes and extracts 
 were made, and the narrative written down from my dictation. This pro- 
 ces.s, though exfremelv slow and laborious, was not without its advan- 
 tages ; and I am well convinced that the authorities have been even more 
 mmutely examinetl, more scrupulously collated, and more thoroughly 
 (ligeste(i, than they would have been under ordinary circumstances." 
 
 In the preface to the Afoiitctiltn aiui Wolfe he says ; " I have visiied and 
 examined everv spot where events of any importance in connection with the 
 contest took place, and have observe<l with attention such scenes and per- 
 s(ms as might help to illustrate those I meant to describe. In short, the 
 subject has been studied as much from life and in the open air as at the 
 horary- table." In the introduction to The PioNeers of /•'niiifi- in the a/cw 
 ll'iir/(/ v/e are shown again something of the dilticulties under which Mr. 
 I'arkman has labored in his great work: " buring the past eighteen years 
 the stale of the writer's health has exacted throughout an extreme caution 
 in regard to mental application, reducing il at best within narrow and pre- 
 carious limits, and often precluding it. Indeed, for two periods, each of 
 several years, any attempt at bookish occupation would have been merely 
 suicidal. A condition of sight arising from kindred sources has also retarded 
 the work, since it has never permitted reading or writing continuously for 
 more than five minutes, and often has not |)erniitted them at all." 
 
 All this reminds us of the sinular heroic devotion and the similar great 
 achievements of I're.scott, under similar disativant.igcs. The careers of both 
 I'rescott and I'arkman, in whose work appears no sign of the discoiirage- 
 meiits which hindered them and of the frecpient depressions which these 
 must have occasioned, but where all is calm, exact, faithful, a.id strong, 
 furnish an example to our young students, which should nerve them all to 
 greater industry, greater energy, greater trust, a more beautiful patience, 
 and a larger vision. 
 

 nd gnt'iered rucI) local 
 riie crude ;nul promU- 
 ) mcaiiH inviting;. The 
 cd, nnd the lal)i>r that 
 I), before he liiiildM his 
 undcrgrowlh, clear the 
 Ion. Several obstacles 
 oik; of the most ctin- 
 [ three years, the light 
 eadin^ or writing; coin- 
 ie task of Milting the 
 linishcd. The papers 
 ous notes and extracts 
 ly dictation. This pro- 
 not without its ad van- 
 have been even more 
 and more thoroughly 
 circumstances." 
 
 's: "I have visited and 
 in connection with the 
 1 such scenes and per- 
 lescribe. In .short, the 
 the open air as at the 
 1'/ /•'ranee in the New 
 idties under which Mr. 
 the past eighteen years 
 )ut an ex'.reme caution 
 within narrow and pre- 
 r two periods, each of 
 ould have been merely 
 ources has also retarded 
 writing continuously for 
 :1 them at all." 
 n and the similar great 
 s. The careers of both 
 sign of the discourage- 
 lepressions which these 
 :t, faithful, a.id strong, 
 luld nerve them all to 
 lore beautiful patience, 
 
 SEVKNTH SEKIKS, iS*,. No. 4. 
 
 The Capture of 
 Quebec. 
 
 FROM I'AKRMAN'S "CONSPIKACY OF I'ONTIAC." 
 
 The eventful ni^lit of tlie twelfth [Sept., 1759] was cle.ir 
 Mild calm, with no li-^ht but that of the stars. Within two hours 
 before daybreak, thirty boats, crowded with si.xteen hundred 
 soldiers, cast olT from the vessels, and floated downward, in 
 perfect order, with the current of the ebb tide. To the bound- 
 less joy of tiie army, Wolfe's malady had aliated, and he was 
 able to command in person. His ruined health, the gloomy 
 prospects of the siejje, and the disaster at Montinorcnci had 
 oppressed him witii the deepest melancholy, but never impaired 
 for a iTioment the promptness of his decisions, or the impetuous 
 energy of his action.' He sat in the stern of one of the boats, 
 pile and weak, but borne up to a calm height of resolution. 
 Every order had been given, every arrangement made, and it 
 only remained to face the issue. The ebbing tide sufficed to 
 bear the boats along, and nothing broke the silence of the 
 night but the gurgling of the river, and the low voice of Wolfe, 
 
 ' In his letter to the Ministry, dated .Sept. 2, Wolfe writes in these 
 desponding words : — 
 
 " Hy the nature o. the river, the most formidable part ot this arma- 
 ment is deprived of the power of acting : yet we have almost the whole 
 force of Canada to oppos';. In this situation there is such a choice of 
 difficulties, Ih-it I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of 
 Great Britain, I know, require the most vigorous measures, but then the 
 courage of a handful of brave troops should be exerted only where there 
 is some hope of a favorable. event. However, you may be assured that 
 the small part of the campaign which remains shall be employed (as far 
 as I am able) for the honor of his Majesty, and the interest of the nation ; 
 in which I am sure of being well seconded by the admiral and by the 
 generals: happy if our efforts here can contribute to the success of his 
 Majesty's arms in any other part of America." 
 
 Majesty's : 
 
 ■ ^*.-j,)«ifti«^ssiJi»K«ws«»?«"r- 
 
I 
 
 as he repeated to the officers about him the slanzas of Gray's 
 " Kle;jy in a Country Chiirchyavd," which had recently appeared 
 and whicii he iiad just received from Knjjland. Perhaps, as he 
 uttered tiiose strangely appropriate words, — 
 
 " The patlis of glory lead hut to tlic fjravc," 
 
 the shadows of his own approaching fate stole with mournful 
 prophecy across his mind. "(lentlemen," he said, as he closed 
 his recital, " I would rather have written those lines than take 
 Quebec tomorrow." ' 
 
 As they approached the landing-place, the boats edged 
 closer in towards the northern shore, and the woody precipices 
 rose high on their left, like a wall of undistinguished blackness. 
 
 " Qui vine (" shouted a French sentinel, from out the 
 impervious gloom. 
 
 " La France .'" answered a captain of Fraser's Highlanders, 
 from the foremost boat. 
 
 " A quel rii^imerit I" deirianded the soldier. 
 
 " Z>^ /a Heine/" promptly replied the Highland captain, 
 who chanced to km that the regiment so designated formed 
 part of Bougain\i c's command. As boats were frecpiently 
 passing down the river with supplies for the garrison, and as a 
 convoy from Bougainville was expected thai very night, the 
 sentinel was deceived, and allowed the English to proceed. 
 
 A few moments after, they were challenged again, and this 
 time they could discern the soldier running close down to the 
 water's edge, as if all his suspicions were aroused; but the skil- 
 ful replies of the Highlander once more saved the party from 
 discovery.' 
 
 They reached the landing-place in safety, — an indentation 
 in the shore, about a league above the city, and now beari-.ig 
 
 ' "This anecdote was related by the late celebrated John Roblson, 
 I'rofessor of Natural Philosophy in the University of ICdinburgh, who, in 
 his youth, was a midshipman in the Hritish navy, and was in the same 
 boat with Wolfe. His son, my kinsman. Sir John Rohison, communkated 
 it to me, and it has since been recorded in the Transactions of the Royal 
 Society of Edinburgh. 
 
 ' Thu paths of glory lead but to the grave ' 
 
 is one of the lines which Wolfe must have recited as he strikingly exem- 
 plified its application." — Grahame, Hist. U. S. IV. 50. See also /Vi/j^rt/rV 
 IVor.is, IV. 126. 
 
 ' Smollett, V. 56, note (Edinburgh, 1805). Mante simply mentions 
 that the English were challenged by the sentinels, and escaped discovery by 
 replying in French. 
 
 •*->'^i**w■'Mif'Ns*!ftyW«^i^■»««JWr'*•«t'»w«p«M«^^?S^^^ 
 
 

 slanzas of CJray's 
 i recently appeared 
 (I. Perhaps, as he 
 
 [rave," 
 
 tole with mournful 
 ; said, as he closed 
 ise lines than take 
 
 , the boats ed<;cd 
 c woody precipices 
 if^uished blackness, 
 lel, from out the 
 
 iser's Hijjhlanders, 
 
 !r. 
 
 Highland captain, 
 designated formed 
 s were frecpiently 
 garrison, and as a 
 lal very night, the 
 sh to proceed. 
 ;;ed again, and this 
 close down to the 
 lused; but the skil- 
 'ed the party from 
 
 f, — an indentation 
 , and now beari'.ig 
 
 l)rate(l John Rohison, 
 sf ICdinburfih, who, in 
 and was in the same 
 Rohison, communicated 
 isactions of the Royal 
 
 js he strikingly txem- 
 o. See also Piny/air's 
 
 [ante simply mentions 
 1 escaped discovery by 
 
 
 the name of Wolfe's Cove. Here a narrow path led up the 
 f.ice of the heights, and a French guard was posted at the toj) 
 to defend the p.iss. Hy the force of the current, the foremost 
 boats, including that which carried Wolfe hiinsell, were borne 
 a little below the spot. The general was one of the first on 
 shore, lie looked upward at the rugged heights which tow- 
 ered above him in the gloom. "You can try it," he coolly 
 observed to an officer near him ; " but I don't think you'll gel 
 up." • 
 
 At the point where the Highlanders landed, one of their 
 captains, Donald Macdonald, apparently the same whose pres- 
 ence of mind had just saved the enterprise from ruin, was 
 (limbing in advance of his men, when he was challenged by a 
 sentinel. He replied in French, by declaring that he had been 
 sent to relieve the guard, and ordering the soldier to withdraw.' 
 liefore the latter was undeceived, a crowd of Highlanders were 
 clv)se at hand, while the steeps below were thronged with eager 
 climbers, dragging themselves up by trees, roots, and bushes.' 
 The guard turned out, and made a brief though brave resist- 
 ance. In a moment, they were cut to pieces, dispersed, or 
 made prisoners ; while men after men came swarming up the 
 height, and quickly formed upon the plains above. Meanwhile, 
 the vessels had dropped downward with the current, and 
 anchored opposite the landing-place. The remaining troops 
 were disembarked, and, with the dawn of day, the whole were 
 brought in safety to the shore. 
 
 The sun rose, and, from the ramparts of Quebec, the 
 astonished people saw the Plains of Ai)ral)am glittering with 
 arms, and the dark-red lines of the English forming in array of 
 liattle. Breathless messengers had borne the evil tidings to 
 Montcalm, and far and near his wide-extended camp jesounded 
 with the rollir.; of alarm drums and the din of startled prepara- 
 tion. He, to ' had had his struggles and his sorrows. The 
 civil power had thwarted him ; famine, discontent, and disaflfec- 
 lion were rife among his soldiers ; and no small portion of the 
 Canadian militia had dispersed froir. sheer starvation. In spite 
 of all, he had trusted to hold out till the winter frosts should 
 
 ' This incident is mentioned in a manuscript journal of the siege of 
 Quebec, by John Johnson, clerk and quartermaster in the sSlh regiment. 
 'I'he journal is written with great care, and abounds in curious details. 
 
 'Knox, Journal, II. 68, not*. 
 
 ' Despatch of Admiral Saunders, Sept. 20, 1759. 
 
 m 
 
 rf*»®S5SS6 
 
 atti^i)gn^!0titummimm 
 

 drive the invaders from before the town; when, on that disas- 
 trous morning, the news of their successful temerity iell like a 
 cannon shot upon his ear. Still he assumed a tune of confi- 
 dence. "They have got to the weak side of us at last," he is 
 reported to have said, "and we must crush them with our num- 
 bers." With headlong haste, his troops were pouring over the 
 bridge of tiie St. Charles, and gathering in heavy masses under 
 the western ramparts of the town. Could numbers give assur- 
 ance of success, thei- triumph would have been secure ; for five 
 French battalions and the armed colonial peasantry amounted 
 in all to more than seven thousand five hundred men. Full in 
 sight before them stretched the long, ihin lines of the Urilish 
 forces, — the half-wild Highlanders, the steady soldiery of Eng- 
 land, and the hardy levies of the provinces, — less than five 
 thousand in number, but all inured to battle, and strong in the 
 ful! assurance of success. Yet, could the chiefs of that gallant 
 army have pierced the secrets of the future, could they have 
 foreseen that the victory which they burned to achieve would 
 have robbed England of her proudest boast, that the conquest 
 of Canada \ ould pave the way for the independence of America, 
 their swords would have dropped from their hands, and the 
 heroic fire have gone out within their hearts. 
 
 It was nine o'clock, and the adverse armies stood motion- 
 less, each gazing on the other. The clouds hung low, and, at 
 intervals, warm light showers descended, besprinkling both 
 alike. The coppice and cornfields in front of the British troops 
 were filled with French sharpshooters, who kept up a distant, 
 spattering fire. Here and there a soldier fell in the ranks, and 
 the gap was filled in silence. 
 
 At a little before ten, the British could see that Montcalm 
 was preparing to advance, and, in a few moments, all his troops 
 appeared in rapid motion. They came on in three divisions, 
 shouting after the manner of their nation, and firing heavily as 
 soon as they came within range. In the British ranks, not a 
 trigger was pulled, not a soldier stirred ; and their ominous 
 composure seemed > damp the spirits of the assailants. It 
 was not till the French were within forty yards that the fatal 
 word was given, and the British muskets' blazed forth at once 
 in one crashing explosion. Like a ship at full career, arrested 
 with sudden ruin on a sunken rock, the ranks of Montcalm 
 staggered, shivered, and broke before that wasting storm of 
 lead. The smoke, rolling along the field, for a moment shut 
 out the view ; but when the white wreaths were scattered on 
 
 ' •«w--«i'"««n»«i'-»*r*«SiCJE ~,w'^temJ»*^-^!f-^IS»n^RK■tr•mfti!^^^ 
 
on that disas- 
 erity lell like a 
 
 tune of confi- 
 ; at last," he is 
 with our num- 
 uring over the 
 i' masses under 
 ers give assur- 
 ;ecure ; for five 
 ntry amounted 
 
 men. Full in 
 
 of the Uriiish 
 oldiery of Eng- 
 
 less than five 
 d strong in the 
 of that gallant 
 )uld they have 
 achieve would 
 t the conquest 
 ice of America, 
 lands, and the 
 
 stood motion- 
 ig low, and, at 
 prinkling both 
 ; British troops 
 : up a distant, 
 
 the ranks, and 
 
 that Montcalm 
 ;, all his troops 
 hree divisions, 
 ring heavily as 
 h ranks, not a 
 
 their ominous 
 assailants. It 
 
 that the fatal 
 
 forth at once 
 ;areer, arrested 
 
 of Montcalm 
 sting storm of 
 L moment shut 
 e scattered on 
 
 s 
 
 the wind, a wretched spectacle was disclosed ; men and officers 
 tumbled in heaps, battalions resolved into a mob, order and 
 obedience gone ; and when the British muskets were levelled 
 for a second volley, the masses of the militia were seen to 
 cower and shrink with uncontrollable panic. For a few min- 
 utes the French regulars stood their ground, returning a sharp 
 and not ineffectual fire. But now, echoing cheer on cheer, 
 redoubling volley on volley, trampling the dying and the dead 
 and driving the fugitives in crowds, the British troops advanced 
 and swept the field before them. The ardor of the men burst all 
 restraint. They -broke into a run, and with unsparing slaughter 
 chased the flying multitude to the gates of Quebec. Foremost 
 of all, the light-footed Highlanders dashed along in furious pur- 
 suit, hewing down the Frenchmen with their broadswords, and 
 slaying many in the very ditch of the fortifications. Never was 
 victory more quick or more decisive." 
 
 In the short action and pursuit the French lost fifteen 
 hundred men killed, wounded, and taken. Of the remainder, 
 some escaped within the city, and others fled across the St. 
 Charles to rejoin their comrades who had been left to guard 
 the camp. The pursuers were recalled by sound of trumpet ; 
 the broken ranks were formed afresh, and the English troops 
 withdrawn beyond reach of the cannon of Quebec. Bougain- 
 ville, with his corps, arrived from the upper country, and, 
 hovering about their rear, threatened an attack ; but when he 
 saw what greeting was prepared for him, he abandoned his pur- 
 pose and withdrew. Townshend and Murray, the only general 
 officers who remained unhurt, passed to the head of every regi- 
 ment in turn, and thanked the soldiers for the bravery they had 
 shown ; yet the triumph of the victors was mingled with sad- 
 ness, as the tidings went from rank to rank that Wolfe had 
 fallen. 
 
 In the heat of the action, as he advanced at the head of 
 the grenadiers of Louisburg, a bullet shattered his wrist ; but 
 he wrapped his handkerchief about the wound, and showed no 
 sign of pain. A moment more, and a ball pierced his side. 
 Still he pressed forward, waving his sword and cheering his 
 soldiers to the attack, when a third shot lodged deep within his 
 
 ' Despatch of General Townshend, Sept. 20. Gardiner, Memoirs of 
 the Sres^'e of Quebec, 28. Journal of the Siei;e of Qiiehec, by a Gentleman in 
 an Eminent Station on the Spot, 40. Letl^r to a A'if^ht Honorable Patriot on 
 the Glorious Sncess of Quebec. Annual Register iox \-j tj), i,o. 
 
wm 
 
 breast. He pausad, reeled, and staggerirg to one side, fell to 
 the earth. Brown, a lieutenant of the grenadiers, Henderson, 
 a volunteer, an otiTicer of artillery, and a private soldier, raised 
 Iiiin together in their arms, and, bearing him to tiie rear, laid 
 him softly on the grass. They asked if he would have a sur- 
 geon ; but he shook his head, and answered that all was over 
 with him. His eyes closed with the torpor of approaching 
 death, and those around sustained his fainting form. Yet they 
 could not withhold their gaze from the wild turmoil before 
 them, and the charging ranks of their companions rushing 
 through fire and smoke. " See how they run," one of the offi- 
 cers exclaimed, as the French fled in confusion before the 
 levelled bayonets. " Who run ? " demanded Wolfe, opening 
 his eyes like a man aroused from sleep. "The enemy, sir," 
 was the reply ; "they give way everywhere," "Then," said the 
 dying general, "tell Colonel Burton to march Webb's regiment 
 down to Charles River, to cut off their retreat from the bridge. 
 Now, God be praised, I will die in peace," he murmured; and, 
 turning on his side, he calmly breathed his last.' 
 
 Almost at the same moment fell his great adversary, Mont- 
 calm, as he strove, with vain bravery, to rally his shattered 
 ranks. Struck down with a mortal wound, he was placed upon 
 a litter and borne to the General Hospital on the banks of the 
 St. Charles. The surgeons told him that he could not recover. 
 " I am glad of it," was his calm reply. He then asked how 
 long he might survive, and was told that he had not many 
 hours r'niaining. " So much the better," he said ; "I am 
 happy that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." 
 Officers from the garrison came to his bedside to ask his orders 
 and instructions. " I will give no more orders," replied the 
 defeated soldier; "I have much business that must be attended 
 to. of greater moment than your ruined garrison and this 
 wretched country. My time is very short ; therefore, pray 
 leave me." The officers withdrew, and none remained in the 
 chamber but his confessor and the Bishop of Quebec. To the 
 last, he expressed his contempt for his own mutinous and half- 
 famished troops, and his admiration for the disciplined valor of 
 his opponents.' He died before midnight, and was buried at 
 
 ' Knox, II. 78. Knox derived his information from the person who 
 supported Wolfe in his dying moments. 
 
 'Knox, II. 77. 
 
le side, fell to 
 s, Henderson, 
 5o!dier, raised 
 tlie rear, laid 
 i have a sur- 
 al! was over 
 approaciiing 
 in. Yet they 
 jrmoil before 
 lions rushing 
 tie of the offi- 
 n Ijefore the 
 olfe, opening 
 ; enemy, sir," 
 lien," said the 
 bb's regiment 
 in the bridge, 
 irmured ; and, 
 
 ,'ersary, Mont- 
 his shattered 
 s placed upon 
 banks of the 
 i not recover. 
 ;n asked how 
 lad not many 
 said ; "I am 
 r of Quebec." 
 ask his orders 
 ," replied the 
 st be attended 
 ison and this 
 lerefore, pray 
 nained in the 
 ibec. To the 
 lous and half- 
 plined valor of 
 was buried at 
 
 the person who 
 
 his own desire in a cavity of the earth formed by the bursting 
 of a bombshell. 
 
 The victorious army encamped before Quebec, and pushed 
 their preparations for the siege with zealous energy ; but before 
 a single gun was brought to bear, the white flag was hung out, 
 and the garrison surrendered. On the eighteenth of Septem- 
 ber, 1759, the rock-built citadel of Canada passed forever from 
 the hands of its ancient masters. 
 
 The victory on the Plains of Abraham and the downfall of 
 Quebec filled 'all England with pride and exultation. From 
 north to south, the* land blazed with illuminations, and resounded 
 with the ringing of bells, the firing of guns, and the shouts of 
 the multitude. In one village alone all was dark and silent 
 amid the general joy; for here dwelt the widowed mother of 
 VVolfe. The populace, with unwonted delicacy, respected her 
 lonely sorrow, and forbore to obtrude the sound of ii.eir rejoic- 
 ings upon her grief for one who had been through life ii^' pride 
 and solace, and repaid her love with a tender and coi itant 
 devotion.' 
 
 Canada, crippled and dismembered by the disasters of this 
 year's campaign, lay waiting, as it were, the final stroke w lich 
 was to extinguish her last remains of life, and close the eventful 
 story of French dominion in America. 
 
 With the Peace of Paris ended the checkered story of New 
 France ; a story which would have been a history if faults of constitu- 
 tion and the bigotry and folly of rulers had not dwarfed it to an 
 episode. Yet it is a noteworthy one in both its lights and its shad- 
 ows: in the disinterested zeal of the founder of Quebec, the self- 
 devotion of the early missionary martyrs, and the daring enterprise 
 of explorers; in the spiritual and temporal vassalage from which the 
 only escape was to the savagery of the wilderness ; and in the swarm- 
 ing corruptions which were the natural result of an attempt to rule, 
 by the absolute hand of a master beyond the Atlantic, a people bereft 
 of every vestige of civil liberty. Civil liberty was given them by 
 the British sword; but the conqueror left their religious system 
 untouched, and through it they have imposed upon themselves a 
 weight of ecclesiastical tutelage that finds few equals in the most 
 Catholic countries of Europe. Such guardianship is not without cer- 
 tain advantages. When faithfully exercised, it aids to uphold some 
 of the tamer virtues, if that can be called a virtue which needs the 
 constant presence of a sentinel to keep it from escaping; but it is 
 
 » Annual Register for 1759, 43. 
 
! 
 
 i. 
 
 I 
 
 I < 
 
 8 
 
 fatal to mental robustness and ..ioral courage; and if French Canada 
 would fulfil its aspirations it must cease to be one of the most priest- 
 ridden coinnuinities of the modern world. 
 
 Scarcely were they free from the incubus of France when the 
 liritish provinces showed symptoms of revolt. The measures on the 
 part of the mother-country which roused their resentment, far from 
 being oppressive, were less burdensome than the navigation laws to 
 which they hail long submitted; and they resisted taxation by Parlia- 
 ment simply because it .vas in principle opposed to their rigiits as 
 freemen. 'I'hey did iioi, like the American provinces of Spain at a 
 later day, sunder themselves from a ixirent fallen into decre|jitude ; 
 but with astonishing audacity they affronted the wrath of England in 
 the hour of her triumph, forgot their jealousies and quarrels, joined 
 hands in the common cause, fought, endured, and won. The dis- 
 united colonies became the United Stales. The string of discordant 
 communities along the Atlantic coast has grown to a mighty people, 
 joined in a union which the earthquake of civil war served only to 
 compact and consolidate. Those who in the weakness of their 
 dissensions needed help from Kngla.id against the savage on their 
 borders have beco.. : uiiion that may defy every foe but that most 
 dangerous of all foes, herself, destined to a majestic future if she 
 will shun the excess and perversion of the principles that made her 
 great, prate less about the enemies of the past and strive more 
 against the enemies of the present, resist the mob and the demagogue 
 as she resisted Parliament and King, rally her powers from the race 
 for gold and the delirium of prosperity to make firm the foundations 
 on which that prosperity rests, and turn some fair proportion of her 
 vast mental forces to other objects than material progress and the 
 game of party politics. She has tamed the savage continent, peopled 
 the solitude, gathered wealth untold, waxed poten Tiposing, redoubt- 
 able ; and now it remains for her to prove, if she can, that the rule 
 of the masses is consistent with the highest growth of the individunl ; 
 that democracy can give the world a civilization as mature and preg- 
 nant, ideas as energetic and vitalizing, and types of manhood as lofty 
 and strong, as any of the systems which it boasts to supplant. — F"rom 
 Montcalm and Wolfe. 
 
 The account of the capture of Quenec in ihe present leaflet is given as 
 found ill the pages of Parkmaii, because no contemporary account is equally 
 graphic, and because Parkman has brought together everything of value 
 from the older accounts. We have chosen for the leaflet the account in 
 The Conspiracy of Pontiac, instead of that in Afontcalm and Wolf, because 
 Montcalm and IVal/e wiW be read by all who are making a study of the battle 
 of Quebec and the events preceding and following it, and such will have in 
 their hands the somewhat different account in that work. In the IVo/fe and 
 Montcalm, Vol. ii, appendices 11, I, and J, will be found full and interesting 
 references to all the original authorities concerning the battle. 
 
 "mmmwmm' 
 
French Canada 
 he most priest- 
 
 ance when the 
 leasures on the 
 Iment, far from 
 igation laws to 
 ition by Farlia- 
 their riglits as 
 ; of Spain at a 
 o decre|jitutle ; 
 
 of Engiaind in 
 quarrels, joined 
 won. The dis- 
 g of (hscordant 
 mighty people, 
 served only to 
 kness of their 
 avage on their 
 : but that most 
 c future if she 
 
 that made her 
 id strive more 
 the demagogue 
 s from the race 
 ;he foundations 
 ^portion of her 
 ogress and the 
 itinent, peopled 
 josing, redoubt- 
 n, that the rule 
 the individual ; 
 iture and preg- 
 mhood as lofty 
 pplant. — From 
 
 :aflet is given as 
 iccount is equally 
 rything of value 
 !t the account in 
 J Wolff, because 
 tudy of the battle 
 ;uch will have in 
 In the IVolfe and 
 11 and interesting 
 :le. 
 
 SEVENTH SERIES, 1889. No. 5. 
 
 Franklin in 
 France. 
 
 A Selection from Franklin's Letters, written during his stay 
 
 in Pap-is. 
 
 TO JOHN HANCOCK, PlUiSIDENT OF CONGRESS 
 
 Nantes, 8 December, ijjb. 
 
 Sir: — In thirty days after we left the Capes of Delaware 
 we came to an anchor in Quiberon Bay. I remained on board 
 four days, expecting a change of wind proper to carry the ship 
 into the river Loire ; but the wind seemed fixed in an opposite 
 quarter. I landed at Auray, and with some difficulty got hither, 
 the road not being well supplied with means of conveyance. 
 Two days before we saw land, we met a brigantine from Bor- 
 deaux belonging to Cork, and another from Rochefort belong- 
 ing to Hu" both of which were taken. The first had on board 
 staves, tar, turpentine, and claret ; the other cognac brandy and 
 flaxseed. There is some difficulty in determining what to do 
 with them ; as they are scarce worth sending to America, and 
 the mind of the French court, with regard to prizes brought into 
 their ports, is not yet known. It is certainly contrary to their 
 treaties with Britain to permit the sale of them, and we have no 
 regular means of trying and condemning them. There are, 
 however, many here who would purchase prizes, we having 
 already had several offers from persons who are willing to take 
 upon themselves all consequences as to the illegality. Captain 
 Wickes, as soon as he can get his refreshment, intends to cruise 
 in the Channel. " , ^ 
 
 Our friends in France have been a good deal dejected with 
 the G^az^/Zi? accounts of advantages obtained against us by the 
 British troops. I have helped them here to recover their spirits 
 

 a little, by assuring them, that we still face the enemy, and were 
 under no apprehension of their armies being able to complete 
 their junction. I understand that Mr. Lee has lately been at 
 Paris, that Mr. Deane is still there, and that an underhand 
 supply is obtained from the government of two hundred brass 
 field-pieces, thirty thousand firelocks, and some other military 
 stores, which are now shipping for America, and will be con- 
 voyed by a ship of war. The court of England (M. Penet tells 
 me, from whom I had the above intelligence) had the folly to 
 demand Mr. Deane to be delivered up, but were refused. 
 
 Our voyage, though not long, was rough, and I feel myself 
 weakened by it ; but I now recover strength daily, and in a few 
 days shall be able to undertake the journey to Paris. I have 
 not yet taken any public character, thinking it prudent first to 
 know whether the court is ready and willing to receive minis- 
 ters publicly from the Congress ; that we may neither embarrass 
 it on the one hand, nor subject ourselves to the hazard ' ' a dis- 
 graceful refusal on the other. I have despatched an e* ress to 
 Mr. Deane, with the letters that I had for him fror .ne com- 
 mittee and a copy of our commission, that he may immediately 
 make the proper inquiries, and give me information. In the 
 meantime I find it generally supposed here that I am sent to 
 negotiate ; and that opinion appears to give great pleasure, if I 
 can judge by the extreme civilities I meet with from numbers 
 of tne principal people who have done me the honor to visit 
 me. 
 
 I have desired Mr. Deane, by some speedy and safe means, 
 to give Mr. Lee notice of his appointment. I find several 
 vessels here laden with military stores for America, just ready 
 to sail. On the whole, there is the greatest prospect that we 
 shall be well provided for another campaign, and much stronger 
 than we were last. A Spanish fleet has sailed with seven thou- 
 sand land forces foot, and some horse. Their destination is 
 unknown, but supposed against the Portuguese in Brazil. Both 
 France and England are preparing strong fleets, and it is said 
 that all the powers of Europe are preparing for war, apprehend- 
 ing that a general one cannot be very far distant. When I 
 arrive at Paris, I shall be able to write with more certainty. 
 I beg you to present my duty to Congress, and assure thern of 
 my most faithful endeavors in their service. With the sincerest 
 esteem and respect, I have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 B. Franklin. . 
 
 g 
 ti 
 
 ti 
 u 
 
 a 
 fa 
 
 F 
 c 
 n 
 h 
 
 r 
 a 
 a 
 \ 
 
 a 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 c 
 
my, and were 
 
 to complete 
 ately been at 
 n underhand 
 undred brass 
 )ther military 
 
 will be con- 
 A. Penet tells 
 i the folly to 
 ifused. 
 
 I feel myself 
 and in a few 
 aris. I have 
 udent first to 
 -eceive minis- 
 ^ler embarrass 
 izard ' ' a dis- 
 an e' ress to 
 ron -tie com- 
 yr immediately 
 ition. In the 
 I am sent to 
 
 pleasure, if I 
 from numbers 
 honor to visit 
 
 id safe means, 
 find several 
 ica, just ready 
 pspect that we 
 much stronger 
 th seven thou- 
 destination is 
 Brazil. Both 
 and it is said 
 ar, apprehend- 
 ant. When I 
 lore certainty, 
 issure them of 
 h the sincerest 
 
 Franklin. 
 
 TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. 
 
 Sir: —The Marquis de Lafayette, a young nobleman of 
 preat expectations and exceedingly beloved here, is by this 
 time probably with you. By some misapprehension in his con- 
 tract with the merchants of Bordeaux he was prevented from 
 using the produce of the cargo he carried over, and so was left 
 without a supply of money. His friends here have sent him over 
 about £soo sterling; and have proposed sendmg him more ; 
 but on reflection, knowing the extreme generosity of his dis- 
 nosition, and fearing that some of his necessitous and artful 
 countrymen may impose on his goodness, they wish to put his 
 money into the hands of some discreet friend, who may supply 
 him from time to time, and by that means knowing his expenses, 
 may take occasion to advise him, if necessary, with a friendly 
 affection, and secure him from too much imposition. I hey 
 accordingly have desired us to name such a person to them. 
 We have not been able to think of one so capable, and so suit- 
 able from the influence of situation, to perform that kind office 
 as General Washington, under whose eye the gentleman will 
 probably be. We beg, therefore, in his behalf, what his friends 
 out of respect would not take the liberty of asking, that your 
 Excellency would be pleased to furnish him with what money 
 he may want in moderation, and take his drafts payable to us 
 for the sums paid him, which we shall receive here and apply 
 to the public service. We also join with his family in their 
 earnest request that you would favor him with your counsels, 
 which, you may be assured, will be an act of benevolence grate- 
 fully remembered and acknowledged by a number of very 
 worthy persons here who interest themselves extremely in the 
 welfare of that amiable young nobleman. _ 
 
 With the greatest respect, we have the honor to be, sir, 
 ^ Your Excellency's, etc 
 
 TO MRS. MARGARET STEVENSON. 
 
 Passy, as January, ijjg. 
 ■ It is always with great pleasure when I think of our long- 
 continued friendship, which had not the least mterruption in 
 the course of twenty years (some of the happiest of my lite), 
 that I spent under your roof and in your company. If I do not 
 write to you as often as I used to do, when I happened to be 
 absent from you, it is owing partly to the present difficulty of 
 
 ;,^^rt^^fe*'^'^****^*' 
 
««■ 
 
 sure communication, and partly to an apprehension of some 
 inconvenience that my correspondence might possibly occasion 
 you. Be assured, my dear frlond, that my regard, esteem, and 
 affection for you are not in the least impaired or diminished, 
 and that, if circumstances would permit, nothing would afford 
 me so much satisfaction as to he with you in the same house, 
 and to experience again your faithful, tender care and attention 
 to my interests, health, and comfortable living, which so long 
 and steadily attached me to you, and which I shall ever remem- 
 ber with gratitude. 
 
 I thought I had nientioned to you before (and I believe I 
 , did, though my letter may have miscarried), that I had received 
 the while cloth suit, the sword, and the saddle for Temple, all 
 in good order. I mention them now again, because Polly tells 
 me you had not heard of their arrival. I wore the clothes a 
 good deal last summer. There is one thing more that 1 wish 
 to have, if you should meet with an opportunity of sending it. 
 I mean the copper pot lined with silver, to roast fowls in by 
 means of a heater. I should also be glad of the piece of ele- 
 phant's tooth. It is old ivory, perhaps of the time before the 
 flood, and would be a rarity to some friends here. But I doubt 
 you will not be able to send them. 
 
 I rejoice to learn that your health is established, and that 
 you live pleasantly in a country town, with agreeable neighbors, 
 and have your dear children about you. My love to every one 
 of them. I long to see them and you ; but the times do not 
 permit me the hope of it. Why do you never write to me ? I 
 used to love to read your letters, and I regret your long silence. 
 They were seasoned with good sense and friendship, and even 
 your spelling pleased me. Polly knows I think the worst 
 spelling the best. I do not write to her by this conveyance. 
 You will let her know that I acknowledge the receipt of her 
 pleasing letter, dated the nth instant. I shall now only 
 observe to you upon it, that I know not how the patent can be 
 taken out in Jacob's name. I am sure he had no claim to it, 
 for when I first proposed to him the making of such wheels at 
 Mr. Viny's, in the country, he objected to it as impracticable. 
 But Mr. Viny, who seized the thought and carried it into execu- 
 tion, had certainly the best right to the patent. I wish he 
 would send me a good drawing, with the proportions, of the 
 little carriage with horses, which his children came once in to 
 see us. How do they all do, and particularly my little patient 
 Bessum ? 
 
 »» ' Hl B <>UiW > »j)ii » l i !Mft i| iy 
 
3n of some 
 lily occasion 
 (esteem, and 
 I diminished, 
 vould afford 
 same house, 
 |nd attention 
 lich so long 
 lever remem- 
 
 d I believe I 
 had received 
 
 Temple, all 
 se Tolly tells 
 he clothes a 
 
 that 1 wish 
 of sending it. 
 
 fowls in by 
 piece of ele- 
 iie before the 
 
 But I doubt 
 
 hed, and that 
 ble neighbors, 
 e to every one 
 times do not 
 ite to me ? I 
 r long silence, 
 ihip, and even 
 nk the worst 
 s conveyance, 
 receipt of her 
 lall now only 
 patent can be 
 lo claim to it, 
 such wheels at 
 impracticable. 
 1 it into execu- 
 it. I wish he 
 >rtions, of the 
 ne once in to 
 y little patient 
 
 tH 
 
 5 
 
 Since my coming here I have been told that Mr. Henley, 
 the linen-drnper, had said, on my going to .'\merica, that I had 
 gone away in his debt. I can hardly believe it. Let me know 
 if you have heard such a thing, and what is the meaning of it. 
 I thought he had been fully paid, and still think so, and shall 
 till I am assured of the contrary. Let me know, at the same 
 time, how my account stands with you. 
 
 You wish to know how I live. It is in a fiic house, situ- 
 ated in a neat village, on high ground, half a mile from Paris, 
 with a large garden to walk in. I have abundance of acquaint- 
 ance, dinf abroad- siv days in seven. Sundays I reserve to dine 
 at home, with such Americans as pass this way, and I then have 
 my grandson Ben, with some other American children from the 
 school. 
 
 If being treated with all the politeness of France, and the 
 apparent respect and esteem of all ranks, from the highest to 
 the lowest, can make a man happy, I ought to be so. Indeed, 
 I have nothing to complain of but a little too much business, 
 and the want of that order and economy in my family, which 
 reigned in it when under your prudent direction. My paper 
 gives me only room to add that I am ever yours most affection- 
 ately, B. Franklin. 
 
 TO TICK MARQUIS OE LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Passy, a2 March, lyjg. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I admire much the activity of your genius 
 and the strong desire you have of being continu.ally employed 
 against our common enemy. 
 
 It is certain that the coasts of England and Scotland are 
 extremely open and defenceless; there are also many rich 
 towns near the sea, which four or five thousand men, landing 
 unexpectedly, might easily surprise and destroy, or exact from 
 them a heavy contribution, taking a part in ready money and 
 hostages for the rest. I should suppose, for example, that two 
 millions sterling, or forty-eight millions of livres, might be 
 demanded of Bristol for the town and shipping ; twelve millions 
 of livres from Bath; forty-eight millions from Liverpool; six 
 millions from Lancaster;, and twelve millions from Whitehaven. 
 On the east side there are the towns of New Castle, Scar- 
 borough, Lynn, and Yarmouth, from which very considerable 
 sums might be exacted. And if among the troops there were 
 
6 
 
 a few horsemen to make sudden incursions at some little dis 
 tance fioni the coast, it would spread terror to much greater 
 distances, and the whole would occasion movements and 
 marches of troops that must put the enemy to a prodigious 
 expense and harass tht-ni exceedingly. Their militia will prob- 
 ably soon be drawn from the dilTt rent counties to one or two 
 places of encampment, so that litll ' or no opposition can be 
 made to such a force as is above meniioned in the places where 
 they may land. But the practicability of such an operation, 
 and the means of facilitating and executing it, military people 
 can besl judge of. I have not enough of knowledge in such 
 matters to presume upon advising it, and I am so troublesome 
 to the ministers on other accounts that I could hardly venture 
 to solicit it if I were ever so confident of its success. Much 
 will depend on a prudent and brave sea commam'or, who knows 
 the coasts, and on a leader of the troops who has the affair at 
 heart, wiio is naturally active and quick in his enterprises, of a 
 disposition proper to conciliate the good will and affection of 
 both the corps, and by that means to prevent or obviate sucli 
 misunderstandings as are apt to arise between them, and which 
 are of' en pernicious to joint expeditions. 
 
 On the whole, it ma\ be encouraging to reflect on the 
 many instances of history which prove that in war attempts, 
 thought to be impossible, do often, for that very reason, become 
 possible and practicable because nobody expects them and no 
 precautions are taken to guard against them. And those are 
 the kind of undertakings of which the success affords the most 
 glory to the ministers who plan and to the officers who execute 
 them. 
 
 With the sincerest esteem and affection, I have the honor 
 to be, sir, etc., B. Franklin. 
 
 TO JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Passy, 21 April, lyjt)- 
 
 Ueak Master Johnny : — 1 am glad you have seen Hrest 
 and the tU ct there. It must give you an idea of the naval force 
 of this kingdom which you will long retain with pleasure. 
 
 I caused ihe letters you enclosed to me to be carefully 
 delivered, but have not received answers to be sent you. 
 
 Benjamin, whom you so kindly remember, would have 
 been glad to hear of your welfare, but he is gone to Geneva. 
 
 '"'''yj¥«'>iytlUIJt.l*u,i(,,^i^,glj,,(iy,-r: 
 
 '' '' j wwiMaMHfe.iji#' ' "«^'W'' ' "" '' 
 
little dis 
 
 icli greater 
 
 ir.ents and 
 
 prodigious 
 
 |ia will prob- 
 
 one or two 
 
 Ition can be 
 
 aces where 
 
 1 operation, 
 
 ilary people 
 
 dge in such 
 
 trouijlcsome 
 
 rdiy venture 
 
 cess. Much 
 
 |r, who knows 
 
 the affair at 
 
 rprises, of a 
 
 altection of 
 
 obviate sr.cli 
 
 ni, and which 
 
 eflect on tiie 
 Iwar attempts, 
 ;ason, become 
 them and no 
 ind those are 
 brds the most 
 s who execute 
 
 As he is destined to live in a Protestant coimtry, and a republic. 
 I thought it best to finish Ins education where tlie proper prin- 
 ciples prevail. 
 
 I heartily wish you a good voyage and a happy sight of 
 your mamma, being really your alTectionate friend, 
 
 li. Franklin. 
 
 To THK MARt^UlS Dli I.AKAYKTTK. 
 
 Passy, 34 Ani,'tist, tfyg. 
 
 Sir: — The Congress, sensible of your merit towards the 
 United States, but unable adequately to reward it, determined 
 to present you with a sword, as a ^.mall mark of their grateful 
 acknowledgment. They directed it to be ornamented with suit- 
 able devices. Some of the principal actions of the war, in 
 which you distinguished yourself by your bravery and conduct, 
 are therefore represented upon it. These, with a few emblem- 
 atic figures, all admirably well executed, make its principal 
 value. Jiy ihe help of the exquisite artists France affords, I 
 find it easy to express every thing but the sense we have of 
 your worth and our obligations to you. For this, figures and 
 even words are found insufficient. I therefore only add that, 
 with the most perfect esteem and respect, I have the honor to 
 be, etc., B. Franklin. 
 
 P. S. — My grandson goes to Harve with the sword, and 
 will have the honor of presenting it to you. 
 
 ive the honor 
 
 RANKLIN. 
 
 April, 1771)- 
 
 ve seen Hrest 
 
 lie naval force 
 
 sasure. 
 
 I be carefully 
 
 t you. 
 
 would have 
 e to Geneva. 
 
 TO RICHARD PRICE. 
 
 Pitjsy, 6 February, ijSo. 
 
 Dear ."^ir : — I "^ceived but very lately, vour kind favor 
 of October 14th, by Dr. Ingenhousz, who brought it, having 
 stayed long in Holland. I sent th; t enclosed, directly to Mr. 
 Lee. It gave me great plensure to understand that you con- 
 tinue well. Take care of yourself; your life is a valuable one. 
 Your writings, after all the abuse you and they have met with, 
 begin to make serious impressions on those who at first rejected 
 the counsels you gave ; and they will acquire new weight every 
 day, and be in high esteem v,Uen the cavils against them are 
 dead and forgotten. 
 
 :y«ii*«i*-^'' 
 
8 
 
 Please lo present my affectionate respects to that honest, 
 !iensi))le, and intelligent society who did me so lonj; the honor 
 of adiniilin}( me lo share in their instructive conversations. I 
 never think of the hours I so happily spent in that company 
 without rej^rellinjj that liiey are ne\er to be repeated ; for 1 sec 
 no prospect of an end lo this uniiappy war in my time. Dr. 
 Priestley, you tell me, continues his experiments with success. 
 We make daily {j;reat improvements in tiatiiral — tliere is one 
 I wish lo see in morti/ — piiiiosophy : the discovery of a plan 
 that would induce and ohiige nations lo settle their disputes 
 without first cuttinj^ one another's throats. When will human 
 reason he sufficiently improved to see the advantage of this? 
 M'hen will men he convinced that even successfid wars at 
 length become misfortunes to those who unjustly commenced 
 them, and who triumphed blindly in their success, not seeing all 
 its conse(|uences ? Your great comfort and mine in this war is, 
 that we honestly and faithfully did every thing in our power to 
 prevent it. Adieu ; ind believe me ever, my dear friend, yours, 
 etc., B. Franklin. 
 
 TO GKORdK WASHINGTON. 
 
 Pasty, S March, tfSo. 
 
 Sir: — I have received but lately the letter your Excel- 
 lency did me the honor of writing to me in recommendation of 
 the Marquis de Lafayette. His modesty detained it long in his 
 own hands. We became acquainted, however, from the time of 
 his arrival at Paris; and his zeal for the honor of our country, 
 his activity in our affairs here, and his firm attachment to our 
 cause and to you, impressed me with the same regard and 
 esteem for him that your Kxcellency's letter would have done, 
 had it been immediately delivered to me. 
 
 Should peace arrive after another campaign or two, and 
 afford us a little lei.sure, I should be happy to see your Excel- 
 lency in Europe and to accompany you, if my age and strength 
 would permit, in visiting some of its ancient and most famous 
 kingdoms You would, on this side of the sea, enjoy the great 
 reputation you have acquired, pure and free from those little 
 shades that the jealousy and envy of :. man's countrymen and 
 contemporaries are ever endeavoring to cast over living merit. 
 Here you would know, and enjoy, wl. it posterity will say of 
 Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same 
 
 I 
 
 •-rSr*«%r»Trii«»./i»!wr^«ri«;i*W7«^^ ^iffiPSS*;*?, 
 
I lint linnost, 
 |i^ I he honor 
 
 ersalioiis. F 
 
 lint company 
 k'd ; for 1 see 
 
 y tinio. Dr. 
 with success. 
 
 there is one 
 TV of a plan 
 
 K'ir disputes 
 
 will human 
 
 ta^e of tiiis? 
 
 sful wars at 
 
 commenced 
 
 not seeing all 
 
 n tiiis war is, 
 
 our power to 
 
 friend, yours, 
 
 «ANKLIN. 
 
 effect with a thous-ind years. The feeble voice of those grov- 
 elling passions cannot e.\tend so far either in lime or distance. 
 At present I enjov that pleasure for you; as 1 frei(iieiitly hear 
 the old generals of this martial country, who study the maps of 
 America, and mark upon them all your o|)erations, speak with 
 sincere approbation and great applause of your cf)nduct ; and 
 join in giving you the character of one of the greatest captains 
 of the age. 
 
 I must soon quit this scene, hut you may live to see our 
 country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly after the war 
 is over; like a lield of young Indian corn, which long fair 
 weather and sunshine had enfeebled and discolored, and which 
 in that weak state, by a thunder-gust of violent wind, hail, and 
 rain, seemed to be threatened with absolute destruction ; yet 
 the storm being past, it recovers fresh verdure, shoots up with 
 double vigor, and deli;^hts the eye, not of its owner only, but of 
 every observing traveller. 
 
 The best wishes that can be formed for your health, honor, 
 and happiness, ever attend you from yours, etc., 
 
 B. Franklin. 
 
 ^farch. If 80. 
 
 r your p'xcel- 
 meiulation of 
 t it long in his 
 m the time of 
 our country, 
 hment to our 
 ! regard and 
 Id have done, 
 
 I or two. and 
 i your Excel- 
 
 and strength 
 
 most famous 
 
 ijoy the great 
 
 II those little 
 intrynien and 
 
 living merit. 
 y will say of 
 riy the same 
 
 TO JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Pussy, »6 November, fjSt. 
 
 Sir: — I sent forward last Saturday some packets and 
 letters for you, which I hope got to hand in lime. Most 
 heartily do I congratulate you on the glorious news I ' The 
 infant Hercules in his cradle has now strangled his second ser- 
 pent, and gives hopes that his future history will be answerable, 
 
 I enclose a packet which I have just received from Gen- 
 eral Washington, and which I suppose contains the articles of 
 capitulation. It is a rare circumstance, and scarce to be met 
 with in history, that in one war two armies should be taken 
 prisoners completely, not a man in either escaping. It is 
 another singular circumstance, that an expedition so complex, 
 formed of armies of different nations, and of land and sea 
 forces, should with such perfect concord be assembled from 
 different places by land and water, form their junction punct- 
 ually, without the least retard by cross accidents of wind or 
 
 ' The "glorious news" here referred to was the capitulation of Corn- 
 wallis' army at Yorktown, on the 17th of October preceding. 
 
 •T'^OMit"J''^'**"**^ii*'^^'^"^''^^'**^'^''^"^'°^'^^^^ 
 
 J^.^-' 
 

 
 I 
 
 I, 
 
 10 
 
 weather, or interruption from the enemy ; and that the army 
 which was their object should in the meantime have the good- 
 ness to quit a situation from whence it might have escaped, and 
 place itself in another whence an escape was impossible. 
 
 General Greene has done wonders, too, in Carolina. I hear 
 that a reinforcement was to be sent to him from the army in 
 Virginia, and that there are hopes of his reducing Charleston. 
 You have probably in the enclosed packet the account of his last 
 great action. Count de Grasse sailed on the 30th with the fleet 
 and part of the land forces. His destination is not mentioned. 
 I have the honor to be, etc., B. Franklin. 
 
 TO FRANCIS HOPKINSON. 
 
 Passy, 24 December, lySg. 
 
 Dear Sir : — I thank you for your ingenious paper in favor 
 of the trees. I own I now wish we had two rows of them in 
 every one of our streets. The comfortable shelter they would 
 afford us, when walking, from our burning summer suns, and 
 the greater coolness of our walls and pavements, would, I con- 
 ceive in the improved health of the inhabitants, amply compen- 
 sate the loss of a house now and then by fire, if such should be 
 the consequence. But a tree is soon felled ; and, as axes are 
 at hand in every neighborhood, may be down before the engines 
 arrive. 
 
 You do well to avoid being concerned in the pieces of per- 
 sonal abuse, so scandalously common in our newspapers that I 
 am afraid to lend any of them here until I have examined and 
 laid aside such as would disgrace us, and subject us among 
 strangers to a reflection like that used by a gentleman in a 
 coffee-house to two quarrellers, who, after a mutually free use 
 of the words, rogue, vtila'r, rascal, scoundrel, etc., seemed as if 
 they would refer their dispute to him : " I know "othing of you, 
 or your affairs,'' said he ; " I only perceive ikai you know one 
 another" 
 
 The conductor of a newspaper should, methinks, consider 
 himself as in some degree the guardian of his country's reputa- 
 tion, and refuse to insert such writings as may hurt it. If people 
 will print their abuses of one another, let them do it in little 
 pamphlets, and d'stribute them where they think proper. It is 
 absurd to trouble all the world with them ; and unjust to sub- 
 
 
 •'?^.-,--7:^r':v5';r^^T'i!S^T*a^^ 
 
 /■ 
 
tl 
 
 t the army 
 the good- 
 caped, and 
 ible. 
 
 na. I hear 
 he army in 
 Charleston, 
 t of his last 
 ith the fleet 
 mentioned. 
 
 NKLIN. 
 
 scribers in distant places, to stuff their paper with matters so 
 unprofitable and so disagreeable. With sincere esteem and 
 affection, I am, etc., B. Franklin. 
 
 iber, i-jSa. 
 
 aper in favor 
 s of them in 
 they would 
 er suns, and 
 would, 1 con- 
 iply compen- 
 ch should be 
 , as axes are 
 e the engines 
 
 pieces of per- 
 papers that I 
 xamined and 
 :ct us among 
 ntleman in a 
 jally free use 
 seemed as if 
 ithing of you, 
 you know one 
 
 nks, consider 
 itry's reputa- 
 it. If people 
 lo it in little 
 proper. It is 
 njust to sub- 
 
 The letters of Franklin in the present leaflet are selected from the hun- 
 dreds of letters written during his residence in France as American minister 
 (1776-1785), to give the student some indication of the variety of interests 
 which occupied his mind during those crowded years. It was late in the 
 autumn of 1776 that. Congress determined to send Franlclin, then over 
 seventy, to take charge of the French mission. When asked to undertake 
 the service he said, " I am old and good for nothing ; but, as the store- 
 keepers say of their remnants of cloth, ' I am a fag-end ; you may have me 
 for what you please.' " 
 
 The letter to Hancock, which is the first here given, announces Frank- 
 lin's arrival in France. The letter to Mrs. .Stevenson is interesting for the 
 glimpses it affords of Franklin's manner of life at Passy. The letter to 
 John Quincy Adams, then a boy of twelve, accompanying his father on his 
 European embassy, will be especially interesting to the younger students. 
 The letter to Richard Price is valuable for the strong condemnation of war 
 which it contains, and its plea for some plan whereby nations could " settle 
 their disputes without first cutting one another's throats." There is a 
 strong passage to the same effect in one of Franklin's letters to Dr. Ship- 
 ley, the Bishop of St. Asaph, dated Passy, 10 June, 1782. He says: 
 " After much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of war- 
 fare, and the little or no advantage obtained even by those nations who 
 have conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that 
 there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a 
 bad peace.'' He uses the same expression in an interesting loiter to Josiah 
 Quincy, dated Sept. 11, 1783, which the reader may find in Bigelow's edi- 
 tion of Franklin's Writings, vol. viii, p. 351. In the same volume, p. 463, 
 see the passage on the Impolicy of War. 
 
 Did space permit, selections would be given from the many letters 
 showing Franklin's continuous and great labors for the financial relief of 
 the Colonies, which constitute u large proportion of the whole body of let- 
 ters. These are historically of great significance, and, along with the great 
 mass of Franklin's other letters written in France, will be consulted by the 
 careful student in the editions of Franklin's Writings, edited by Bigelow 
 and Sparks. F.dward Everett Hale's work on Franklin in France, contain- 
 ing many letters not elsewhere published, is highly important in this connec- 
 tion J and the biographies of Franklin by Bigelow, Parton and McMaster 
 will be consultf-^. Younger readers may prefer the Autobiography of 
 
 /■■• 
 
 ^-uL. 
 
 ?,®saaw*«a*«»«!i*'^'»'*«^ 
 
12 
 
 / 
 Franklin, edited and continued by D. H. Montgomery, in Ginn's skries of 
 "Classics for Cliiklren." Such readers are asked to note especially I'ne 
 chapter on Franklin's Mission to France (p. 271). 
 
 F'ranklin returned to America in the summer of 1785. In the previous 
 year he wrote as follows in a letter to John Jay : " I have, as you observe, 
 some enemies in Kn^jland, hut they are my enemies as an American ; I 
 have also two or three in America, who are my enemies as a minister ; but 
 1 thank (iod there are not in the whole world any who are my enemies as a 
 man ; for by his grace, through a long life, 1 have been enabled so to con- 
 duct myself that there does not exLst a human being who can justly say, 
 ' Hen Franklin has wronged me.' This, my friend, is in old age a comfort- 
 able reflection. You too have, or may have, your enemies ; but let not 
 that render you unhappy, it you make a right use of them, they will do 
 you more good than harm. They point out to us our faults; they put us 
 upon our guard, and help us to live more correctly." 
 
 
 i * **"% ^ i4S^ ' '.nMmu-* - ->^m^''^m0^mm f ^ 
 
Ginn's skries of 
 :e especially the 
 
 In the previous 
 js you observe, 
 in American ; I 
 a minister ; but 
 ny enemies as a 
 ibled so to con- 
 3 can justly say, 
 age a conifort- 
 ies ; t)ut let not 
 lein, they will do 
 ilts ; they put us 
 
 
 (Din ^outl) acflflctifli. 
 
 SEVENTH SERIES, 1889 No. 6. 
 
 Letters of 
 Washington and 
 
 Lafayette. 
 
 LAFAYETTE TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 "Camp, 30 December, 7777. 
 " My Dear General :— I went yesterday morning to head- 
 quarters, with an intention of speaking to your Excellency, but 
 you were too busy, and I shall state in this letter what I wished 
 to say. I need not tell you how sorry I am at what has lately 
 happened ; it is a necessary result of my tender and respectful 
 friendship for you, which is as true and candid as the other 
 sentiments of my heart, and much stronger than so ntv, r-.j 
 acquaintance might seem to admit. But another reason for my 
 concern is my ardent and perhaps enthusiastic wish for the 
 happiness and Mberty of this country. I see plainly that 
 America can defend herself, if proper measures are taken ; but 
 I begin to fear that she may be lost by herself sua her own 
 sons. 
 
 "When I was in Europe, I thought that here almost every 
 man was a lover of liberty, and would rather die free than live a 
 slave. You can conceive my astonishment when I saw that 
 Toryism was as apparently professed as Whigism itself. There 
 are open dissensions in Congress ; parties who hale, one another 
 as much as the common enemy ; men who, without knowing 
 any thing about war, undertake to judge you, and to make 
 ridiculous comparisons. They are infatuated with Gates, with- 
 out thinking of the diffevenre of circumstances, and believe that 
 attacking is the only thing necessary to conquer. These ideas 
 are entertained by some jealous men, and perhaps secret friends 
 of the British government,' who want to push you, in a moment 
 of ill humor, to some rash enterprise upon the lines, o' against 
 a much stronger army. 
 
 .- £S l' ' «» rt'» i|KW 
 
 ■■^(^ts^^i^iMAf^^£^isa»i^^'H^-^ 
 
 
w 
 
 wmn 
 
 
 " I should not take the liberty of mentioning these particu- 
 lars to you, if I had not received a letter from a young, good- 
 natured gentleman at Yorktown, whom Conway has ruined by 
 his cunning and bad advice, but who entertains the greatest 
 respect for you. I have been surprised to see the poor 
 establishment of the Board of War, the difference made between 
 northern and southern departments, and the orders from 
 Congress about military operations. But the promotion of 
 Conway is beyond all my expectations. I should be glad to have 
 new major-generals, because, as I know that you take some 
 interest in my happiness and reputation, it will perhaps afford 
 an occasion for your Excellency to give me more agreeable 
 commands in some instances. On the other hand. General 
 Conway says he is entirely a man to be disposed of by me, he 
 calls himself my soldier, and the reason of such behaviour 
 towards me is, that he wishes to be well spoken of at the French 
 Court ; and his protector, the Marquis de Castries, is an intimate 
 acquaintance of mine. 
 
 " But since the letter of Lord Stirling, I have inquired into 
 his character, and found that he is an ambitious and dangerous 
 man. He has done all in his power to draw off my confidence 
 and affection from you. His desire was to engage me to leave 
 this country. I now see all the general officers of the army 
 against Congress. Such disputes, if known to the enemy, may 
 be attended with the worst consequences. I am very sorry 
 whenever I perceive troubles raised amongst defenders of the 
 same cause ; but my concern is much greater, when I find 
 officers coming from France, officers of some character in my 
 country, to whom a fault of that kind may be imputed. The 
 reason for my fondness for Conway was his being a very brave 
 and very good officer. However, that talent for mancEuvering, 
 which seems so extraordinary to Congress, is not so very 
 difficult a matter for any man of common sense, who applies 
 himself to it. I must render to General Duportail and some 
 other French officers, who have spoken to me, the justice to say, 
 that I found them as I could wish upon this occasion, although 
 it has made a great noise amongst many in the army. I wish 
 your Excellency could let them know how necessary you are to 
 them, and engage them at the same time to keep peace and 
 reinstate love among themselves, till the moment when these 
 little disputes shall not be attended with such inconveniences. 
 It would be too great a pity, that slavery, dishonor, ruin, and 
 the unhappiness of a whole nation, should issue from trifling 
 differences betwixt a few men. 
 
 " ^^^?fe*5»SK«*(WsiE{ife«iS,'-^^ 
 
lese particu- 
 ^ouiig, good- 
 s ruined by 
 :he greatest 
 B the poor 
 ade between 
 jrders from 
 romotion of 
 glad to have 
 I take some 
 rhaps afford 
 re agreeable 
 ind, General 
 of by me, he 
 ;h behaviour 
 It the French 
 san intimate 
 
 nquired into 
 d dangerous 
 ly confidence 
 me to leave 
 of the army 
 enemy, may 
 n very sorry 
 nders of the 
 when I find 
 racter in my 
 iputed. The 
 a very brave 
 nanceuvering, 
 not so very 
 , who applies 
 tail and some 
 justice to say, 
 lion, although 
 irmy. I wish 
 ry you are to 
 ;ep peace and 
 t when these 
 :onveniences. 
 nor, ruin, and 
 I from trifling 
 
 "You will perhaps find this letter very unimportant ; but I 
 was desirous of explaining to you some of my ideas, because it 
 will contribute to my satisfaction to be convinced, that you, my 
 dear General, who have been so indulgent as to permit me to 
 look on you as a friend, should know my sentiments. I have 
 the warmest love for my country, and for all good Frenchmen. 
 Their success fills my heart with joy ; but. Sir, besides that 
 Conway is an Irishman, 1 want countrymen, who in every point 
 do honor to their country. That gentleman had engaged me, 
 by entertaining my imagination with ideas of glory and shining 
 projects, and I -must confess this was a too certain way of 
 deceiving me. I wish to join to the few theories about war, 
 which I possess, and to the few dispositions which nature has 
 given me, the experience of thirty campaigns, in the hope that I 
 should be able to be more useful in my present sphere. My 
 desire of deserving your approbation is strong ; and, whenever 
 you shall employ me, you can be certain of my trying every 
 exertion in my power to succeed. I am now bound to your 
 fate, and I shall follow it and sustain it, as well by my sword as 
 by all the means in my power. You will pardon my importunity. 
 Youth and friendship perhaps make me too warm, but I feel the 
 greatest concern at recent events. With the most tender and 
 profound respect, I have the honor to be, &c." 
 
 : ' WASHINGTON TO LAFAYETTE. v'! 
 
 ^'Head-Quarters, 31 December, iTJf. 
 "Mv Dear Marquis: — Your favor of yesterday conveyed 
 to me fresh proof of that friendship and attachment, which I 
 have happily experienced since the first of our acquaintance, 
 and for which I entertain sentiments of the purest affection. It 
 will ever constitute part of my happiness to know that I stand 
 well in your opinion ; because I am satisfied that you can have 
 no views to answer by throwing out false colors, and that you 
 possess a mind too exalted to condescend to low arts and 
 intrigues to acquire a reputation. Happy, thrice happy, would 
 it have been for this army, and the cause we are embarked in, 
 if the same generous spirit had pervaded all the actors in it. 
 But one gentleman, whose hame you have mentioned, had, I am 
 confident, far different views. His ambition and great desire of 
 being puffed off, as one of the first officers of the age, could 
 only be equalled by the means which he used to obtain them ; 
 
 %m 
 

 but finding that I was determined not to go beyond the line of 
 mv duty to indulge him in the first, nor to exceed the strictest 
 rules of propriety to gratify him in the second, he became my 
 in-'-verate enemy; and he has, I am persuaded, practised every 
 art to Jo me an injury, even at the expense of reprobating a 
 measure, which did not succeed, that he himself advised to. 
 How far he may have accomplished his ends, I know not ; and, 
 except for considerations of a public nature, I care not; for it 
 is well known, that neither ambitious nor lucrative motives led 
 me to accept my present appointments; in the discharge ot 
 which, I have endeavoured to observe one steady and uniform 
 svstem of conduct, which I shall invariably pursue, while I 
 have the honor to command, regardless of the tongue of slander 
 or the powers of detraction. The fatal tendency of disunion is 
 so obvious, that I have in earnest terms exhorted such ofiicers, 
 as have expresseu their dissatisfaction at General Conway s 
 proirotion, to be cool and dispassionate in their decision upon 
 the matter ; and I have hopes that they will not suffer any hasty 
 determination to injure the service. At the same time, it must 
 be ackno vledged, that officers' feelings upon these occasions 
 are not to be restrained, although you may control their actions. 
 " The other observations contained in your letter have too 
 much truth in them ; and it is much to be lamented, that things 
 are not now as they formerly were ; but we must not, in so great 
 a contest, expect to meet with nothing but sunshine. I have no 
 doubt that everything happens for the best, that we shall 
 triumph over all our misfortunes, and m the end be happy; 
 when, my dear Marquis, if you will give me your company in 
 Virginia, we will laugh at our past difficulties and the folly ot 
 othirs; and I will endeavour, by every civility ir. my poNver, to 
 show you how much and how sincerely I am your affectionate 
 and obedient servant." ' 
 
 LAFAYETTE TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 "St. yean d'Angely, i» Jtme, 1779. 
 " My Dear General :— There is at length a safe occasion 
 of writing to you, and of assuring Y^" what sincere concern I 
 feel at our se, aration. I had acquired such a habit of be ng 
 inseparable froi ^ you, that I am more and more afflicted at the 
 distance, which keeps me so far from my dearest friend, and 
 especially at this particular time, as I think the campaign ?s 
 opened, and that you are in the field. I ardently wish I might 
 
'JSV'ilB^dSlll 
 
 d the line of 
 
 (lie strictest 
 
 e became my 
 
 actised every 
 
 eprobaling a 
 
 advised to. 
 
 3W not ; and, 
 
 re not ; for It 
 
 motives led 
 
 discharge of 
 
 r and uniform 
 
 rsue, while I 
 
 ;ue of slander 
 
 )f disunion is 
 
 such officers, 
 
 ral Conway's 
 
 lecision upon 
 
 ffer any hasty 
 
 time, it must 
 
 ese occasions 
 
 their actions. 
 
 titer have too 
 
 ^d. that things 
 
 ot, in so great 
 
 le. I have no 
 
 that we shall 
 
 nd be happy; 
 
 ir company in 
 
 id the folly of 
 
 my power, to 
 
 ur affectionate 
 
 I safe occasion 
 ere concern I 
 riabit of being 
 ifflicted at the 
 ;st friend, and 
 ; campaign '.s 
 wish I might 
 
 5 
 
 be near you, know every interesting event, and if possible con- 
 tribute to your success and glory. 
 
 "'uiclosed is a copy of my letter to C^ngress, in which you 
 will find such intelligence as I was to give them. The Chevalier 
 de la Luzerne intends going to Congress by the way of head- 
 quarters. 1 promised that I would introduce him to your 
 Excellency, and I have desired him to let you know any piece 
 ot news, which he has bf^r. entrusted with. By what you will 
 hear, my dear Gener;?i, you will see that our affairs take a good 
 turn. Besides the fat'orable dispositions of Spain, Ireland is a 
 good deal tired o'f English oppression. In confidence I would 
 tell you, that the scheme of my heart would be to make it as 
 free and independent as America. God grant that the sun of 
 freedom may at length arise for the happiness of mankind. I 
 shall know more about Ireland in a few weeks, and I will 
 immediately inform your Excillency. As to Congress, there are 
 so many people in it, that one cannot safely unbosom himself, 
 as he does to his best friend. After referring you to the 
 Chevalier de la Luzerne for what concerns the public news, the 
 present situation of affairs, and the designs of our ministry, 1 
 will only speak to your Excellency about the great article of 
 money. It gave me much trouble, and I so much insisted upon 
 it, that the director of finances looks upon me as his evil genius. 
 France has incurred great expenses lately. The Spaniards will 
 not easily give their dollars. However, Dr. Franklin has got 
 some money to pay the bills of Congress, and I hope I shall 
 determine the government to greater sacrifices. Serving 
 America is to my heart an inexpressible happiness. 
 
 "There is another point upon which you should employ 
 all your influence and popularity. For God's sake prevent the 
 Congress from disputing loudly together. Nothing so much 
 hurts the interests and reputation of America, as these intestine 
 quarrels. On the other hand, there are two parties in France ; 
 Mr. Adams and Mr. Lee on one part; Dr. Franklin and his 
 friends on the other. So great is the concern, which these 
 divisions give me, that I cannot wait on these gentlemen as 
 much as I could wish, for fear of mentioning disputes, and bring- 
 ing them to a greater height. 
 
 "I send enclosed a small ncfte for M. Neuville. Give me 
 leave to recommend to your Excellency the bearer thereof, our 
 new minister plenipotentiary, who seems to me extremely well 
 qualified for deserving general esteem and regard. 
 
 "I know you wish to hear something about my private 
 
 . ^jj^^^j^|5eKiw^>a^**i^'*«'W^V»»&i«ftS uW^KfcWWjiwsrt^^ 
 
affairs. I gave an account of them to Congress, and sh ill only 
 add, that I am here as happy as possible. My family, my 
 friends, my countrymen, gave me such a reception, and show 
 me every day such an affection, as 1 could not have hoped. 
 For some days I have been in this place, where are the King's 
 own regiment of dragoons, which I command, and some 
 regiments of infantry, which are for the present under my 
 orders. But what 1 want, my dear General, and what would 
 make me the happiest of men, is to join again the American 
 colors, or to put under your orders a division of four or five 
 thousand of my countrymen. In case any such cooperation, or 
 any private expedition is wished for, I think, if peace is not 
 settled this winter, that an early demand might be complied 
 with for the next campaign. Our ministers are rather slow in 
 their operations, and have a great desire for peace, provided it 
 is an honorable one ; so that I th.nk America must show her- 
 self in earnest for war, till such conditions are obtained. 
 American independence is a certain, an undoubted point; but I 
 wish that inilependence to be acknowledged on advantageous 
 terms. On the whole, between ourselves, as to what concerns 
 the royal and ministerial good will towards America, I, an 
 American citizen, am fully satisfied with it, and I am sure the 
 alliance and friendship between both nations will be established 
 in such a way as will last for ever. 
 
 " Be so kind as to present my respects to your lady, and 
 tell her how happy I should feel to present them myself, and 
 at her own house. I have a wife, my dear General, who is in 
 love with you, and affection for you seems to me so well justi- 
 fied, that 1 cannot oppose that sentiment in her. She begs you 
 will receive her compliments, and make them acceptable to 
 Mrs. Washington. I hope you will come to see us in Europe ; 
 and most certainly I give you my word, that, if I am not happy 
 enough to be sent to America before the peace, I shall by all 
 means go there as soon as I can escape. I beg you will present 
 my best compliments to your family, and remind them of my 
 tender regard for them all ; and also to the general officers, to 
 all the officers of the army, and to all the friends I have there. 
 I entreat you to let me hear from you. Write to me how you 
 do, and how things are going on. The minutest details will be 
 interesting to me. Do not forget any thing concerning yourself. 
 With the highest respect and the most sincere friendship, I 
 have the honor to be, &c." 
 
d sh ill only 
 
 family, my 
 
 1, and show 
 
 lave hoped. 
 
 the King's 
 
 and some 
 
 t under my 
 
 what would 
 
 he American 
 
 f four or five 
 
 joperation, or 
 
 peace is not 
 
 be complied 
 
 ither slow in 
 
 e, provided it 
 
 ist show her- 
 
 ire obtained. 
 
 i point ; but I 
 
 advantageous 
 
 vhat concerns 
 
 merica, I, an 
 
 1 am sure the 
 
 be established 
 
 your lady, and 
 m myself, and 
 sral, who is in 
 
 so well justi- 
 She begs you 
 acceptable to 
 us in Europe ; 
 am not happy 
 , I shall by all 
 Qu will present 
 d them of my 
 ral officers, to 
 5 I have there. 
 
 me how you 
 details will be 
 rning yourself. 
 
 friendship, I 
 
 WASHINC.ION TO I.AKAVKTTK. 
 » 
 
 "W-V.r/ /'(lint, JO St(<Umber, mQ. 
 
 " My Dear Marquis : — A few days ago 1 wrote you a letter 
 in much haste. Since that. I have been honored with the 
 company of the Chevalier de la Luzerne, and by him was 
 favored with your obliging letter of the 12th of June, which 
 filled me with equal pleasure and surprise; the latter at hearing 
 that you had not received one of the many letters I had written 
 to you since you left the American shore. It gave me infinite 
 pleasure to hear,' from yourself, of the favorable reception you 
 met with from your sovereign, and of the joy, which your safe 
 arrival in France had diffused among your friends. I had no 
 doubt that this would be the case, 'i'o hear it from yourself 
 adds pleasure to the account ; and here, my dear friend, let me 
 congratulate you on your new, honorable, and pleasing appoint- 
 ment in the army commanded by the Count de Vaux, which I 
 shall accompany with an assurance, that none can do it with 
 more warmth of affection, or sincere joy, than myself. Your 
 forward zeal in the cause of liberty; your singular attachment to 
 this infant world; your ardent and persevering elTorts, not only 
 in America, but since your return to France, to serve the United 
 States ; your polite attention to Americans, and your strict and 
 uniform friendship for »;<*, have ripened the first impressions of 
 esteem and attachment, which I imbibed for you, into such 
 perfect love and gratitude, as neither time nor .ibsence can 
 impair. This will warrant my assuring you, that, whether in the 
 character of an officer at the head of a corps of gallant French- 
 men, if circumstances should require this, whether as a major- 
 general commanding a division of the American army, or 
 whether, after our swords and spears have given place to the 
 ploughshare and pruning-hook, I see you as a private gentle- 
 man, a friend and coinpanion, I shall welcome you with all the 
 warmth of friendship to Columbia's shores; and, in the latter 
 case, to my rural cottage, where homely fare and a cordial 
 reception shall be substituted for delicacies and costly living. 
 This, from past experience, I know you can subinit to ; and if 
 the lovely partner of your happiness will consent to participate 
 with Hs in such niral entertaininent and amusements, I can 
 undertake, in behalf of Mrs. Washington, that she will do every 
 thing in her power to make Virginia agreeable to the Marchion- 
 ess. My inclination and endeavours to do this cannot be 
 doubted, when I assure you, that I love every body that is dear 
 
 '-■^3t»ja»ilgsa >< iii<w> * '' j i"'' » «»' » »'°*>'*«'*«^ 
 
8 
 
 to you, and consequently participate in the pleasure you feel in 
 the \< spcct of a;;ain becoming a parent, and do mnsf sincerely 
 congkaiulate you and your lady on this fresh pledj;e she is about 
 to give you of her love. 
 
 " I thank yon f.)r the trouble you have taken and your polite 
 attention, in favoring me with a copy of your letter to Congress ; 
 and feel, as I am persuaded they must do, the force of such 
 ardent zeal as you therein express for the interest of this 
 country. The propriety of the hint you have f,Mven ihein must 
 carry conviction, and I trust will have a salutary effect ; thoujrh 
 there is not, 1 believe, the same occasion for the admonition 
 now, th.nt there was several montli^ ago. Many late changf'^ 
 have *,iken place in that honorable body, which have removed 
 XT) a very great degn-e, if not wholly, the discordant spirit which, 
 it is said, prevailed in the winter; and 1 hope measures will al.so 
 he taken to remove t'lose unhappy and improper differences, 
 which have extended theinseKes elsewhere, to the prejudice of 
 our affairs in Europe 
 
 " I have had great pleasure in the vsit, which the Chevalier 
 de la Luzerne and Monsieur Marbois did me the honor to make 
 at this camp; concerning both of whom I have imbibed the 
 most favorable impressions, and I thank you for the honorable 
 mention you made of me to them. The Chevalier, till he had 
 announced himself to Congress, did not choose to be received in 
 his public character. If he had, except paying him military 
 honors, it was not my intention to di 'nrt from that plain and 
 simple manner of living, which accords with the real interest 
 and policy of men struggling under every diC' ulty for the 
 att.dnment of the most inestimable blessing < : life, liberty. 
 The Chevalier was polite enough to approve my principle, and 
 condescended to appear pleased with our Spartan living. In a 
 word, he made is all exceedingly happy by his affability and 
 good humor, while he remained in camp. 
 
 " You are pleased, my dear Marquis, to express an earnest 
 desire of seeing mc in France, after the establish. ..ent of our 
 independency, an ' do me the honor to add, that you are not 
 singular in your request. Let me entreat you to be persuaded, 
 that to meet you any where, after the final accomplishment of 
 so glorious an event, would contribute to my hnnni- fss ; and 
 that to visit a country, to whose generous a < tand so 
 much indebted, would be an additional pleasure ;)ut remember, 
 m\ good friend, that I -.m unacquainted with your language, 
 that I am too far advanced in years to acquire a knowledge of 
 
 -SfegS»'i«J»P ■ 
 
 ■:»«»-, 
 
^ 
 
 ire you feei in 
 losr sincerely 
 ;e slie is about 
 
 nrl your polite 
 
 to ("onj^ress ; 
 
 I'lrct of such 
 
 i;rest jf this 
 
 en hem must 
 
 iTect : thou^'h 
 
 le adiii'initi- r 
 
 Inte changfs 
 
 iiave removed 
 
 It spirit which, 
 
 isures will also 
 
 r difVerences, 
 
 ; prejudice of 
 
 the Chevalier 
 
 horior to make 
 
 e imbibed the 
 
 the honorable 
 
 ier, till he had 
 
 be received in 
 
 J him military 
 
 hat i(l;iin and 
 
 B real interest 
 
 'i' ulty for the 
 
 I life, liberty. 
 
 principle, and 
 
 livinf^. In a 
 
 affability and 
 
 ess an earnest 
 ili.uent of our 
 t you are not 
 36 persuaded, 
 iplishment of 
 ippircss ; and 
 we ^tand so 
 )ut remember, 
 our language, 
 knowledge of 
 
 it, .1.1(1 that, to converse through the medium of an interpreter 
 upon common occasions, especially with the ladies, must appear 
 so exticmely awkw.ird, insipid, and un'"uth, that 1 can scarcely 
 bear it in idea. I will, therefore, hold myself diseng igti. for 
 the present ; but when I see you in Virginia, we will t.ilk of this 
 matter and fix our plans. 
 
 The decl. nation of Spain, in l.ivor of Fr.ince has given 
 universal joy t i every Whig; while the poor Tory droops, like a 
 withering ilower under a declining sun. We are anxiously 
 expecting to l)ear of great and important events on your side of 
 the Atlantic. At present, the imagination is left in the wide 
 fi'.ld of conjecture. Our eyes one moment are turned to an 
 invasion of England, then of Ireland, Minorca, dibraltar. In a 
 word, we ho|n' every thing, but know not what to expect, or 
 where to fix. The glorious six cess of Count d'Estaing in the 
 West Indies, at the same time t) :t it adds dominion to France, 
 and fresh lustre to her arms, is .i source of new and unexpected 
 vc\\'iiox\,\\\\i: \.o o\\\ tender and f^inerotis pni I nt, ?iVi(\ nmst ser\e to 
 convince her of the folly of quitting the substance in pursuit of 
 a shadow ; and, as there is no experience etjual to that which is 
 bought, 1 trust she will have a super-abundance of this kind of 
 knowledge, and be convinced, as I hope all the world and every 
 tyrant in it will be that the best and only safe roail to honor, 
 glory, and t ue dii;;mly, is justke. 
 
 We have such repeated advices of Count d'Estaing's being 
 in these seas, that, f'lough I have no official information of the 
 event, I cannot help giving entire credit t^ 'he report, ami looking 
 for his arrival every moment, and I am preparing accordingly. 
 The enemy at New Yor^ also expect it ; and, to j-uard against 
 the consecjuences, as mudi as it is in their power to do, are 
 repairing and strengthening all the old fortifications, and adding 
 new ones in the vicinity ot the city. Tli ir fears, however, do 
 not retard an embarkation, which was ii. iking, and generally 
 believed to be for the West Indies >r Charleston. It still goes 
 forward ; and, by my intelligence, ii will consist of a pretty large 
 detachment. About fourteen days ago, one British regiment 
 (the forty-fourth ompleted) and three Hessian regiments were 
 embarked, and are gone, as is supposed, to Halifax. The 
 operations of the enemy this campaign have been confined to 
 the establishment of works of defence, taking a post at King's 
 Ferry, and burning the defenceless towns of New Haven, Fair- 
 field, and Norwaik, on the bound within re;i h of their shipping, 
 where little else was or could be opposed to them, than the 
 
 r^sc': 
 
10 
 
 cries of distressed women and lielpless children ;' but tiiese were 
 (ilTered in vain. Since tluwe notai)le exploits, they have never 
 stepped out of tiieir \vori<s or In-yiind their lines. F^ow ;. con- 
 duct of this kind is to effect the coiu|nest of America, the 
 wisdom of a North, a Germain, or a Sandwich best can decide. 
 It is too deep and relined for the comprehension of common 
 understanding's and the {general run of politicians. 
 
 Mrs. Washin;;ton, who set out for Virginia when we took 
 the field in June, lias often in her letters to me incjuired if I had 
 heard from yon, and will be much pleased at hearing that you 
 are well and happy. In her name, as she is not here, I thank 
 you for your polite attention to her, and shall speak her sense of 
 the honor conferred on her by the Marchioness. When I look 
 back to the length of this letter, I have not the co\irage to give 
 it a careful reading for the purpose of correction. You must, 
 therefore, receive it witii all its imperfections, accompanied with 
 this assurance, that, though there may be many inaccuracies in 
 the letter, there is not a single defect in the friendship of, my 
 dear Martjuis, yours, &c. 
 
 WASHINGTON TO I.AFAYKTTE. 
 
 Head- Quarters, j April, 1783. 
 
 My Dkar Marquis : — It is easier for you to conceive, 
 than for me to express, the sensibilit;, of my heart at the com- 
 munications in your letter of the 5th of February from Cadiz. 
 It is to these communications we are indebted for the only ac- 
 count yet received of a general pn'ification. My mind, upon 
 the receipt of this intelligence, wa- instantly assailed by a 
 thousand ideas, all of them contending for preeminence ; but, 
 believe me, my dear friend, none could supplant, or ever will 
 eradicate that gratitude which has arisen from a lively sense of 
 the conduct of your nation, and from my obligations to many of 
 its illustrious characters (of whom, I do not mean to flatter, 
 when I place you at the head), and from my admiration of the 
 virtues of your august sovereign, who, at the same time that he 
 stands confessed the father of his osvn people, and defender of 
 American rights, has given the most exalted example of modera- 
 tion in treating with his enemies. 
 
 We are now an independent people, and have yet to learn 
 political tactics. We are placed among the nations of the earth, 
 and have a character to establish; but how we shall acquit our- 
 selves, time must discover. The probability is, (at least I fear 
 
 ' '■^memmem^smisit^ 
 
II 
 
 1 
 
 t lliese were 
 liiive never 
 
 How a con- 
 m-rica, the 
 an decide. 
 
 of common 
 
 irn we took 
 ri'd if I liad 
 nj; tiiat you 
 ;re, I thank 
 her sense of 
 'hen I look 
 ra^e to give 
 Vou must, 
 ipanicd with 
 [-■curacies in 
 ship of, my 
 
 /■//. 1783. 
 \o conceive, 
 at the com- 
 from Cadiz, 
 the only ac- 
 mind, upon 
 sailed by a 
 nence ; but, 
 or ever will 
 ely sense of 
 > to many of 
 n to flatter, 
 at ion of the 
 ime that he 
 defender of 
 ; of modera- 
 
 (fet to learn 
 }f the earth, 
 I acquit our- 
 least I fear 
 
 it), that local or State politics will interfere too much with the 
 more liberal and extensive plan of j;"^'C''"""'"t. which wisdom 
 and f()resi;;lit, freed from tlie mist of prejudice, would dictate ; 
 and that we shall be guilty of many blunders in treadin^j this 
 boundless theatre, before we shall have arrived at any perfection 
 in this art ; in a word, that the e.xperience, which is put -hased 
 at the price of difficulties and distress, wiiI alone convince us, 
 that the honor, power, and true interest of this country must be 
 measured by a Continent;.! scale, and that every departure 
 therefrom weakens the Ifnion, and may ullinuitely break the 
 band which holds us to};etiier. To avert these evils, to form a 
 new constitution, that will };ive consistency, stability, and dig- 
 nity to the Union, and sufficient powers to the great council of 
 the nation for general ])urposes, is a duty incumbent upon every 
 man who wishes well to his country, and will meet with my aid 
 as far as it can be rendered in the private walks of life. 
 
 The armament, which was preparing at C!adiz, and in which 
 you were to have acted a distinguished part, would have carried 
 such conviction with it that it is not to be wondered at that 
 Great Britain should have been impressed with the force of 
 such reasoning. To this cause, I am persuaded, the peace is 
 to be ascribed. Your going to Madrid from thence, instead of 
 coming immediately to this country, is another instance, my 
 dear Marquis, of your zeal for the American cause, and lays a 
 fresh claim to the gratitude of her sons, who will at all times 
 receive you with open arms. As no official despatches are yet 
 received, either at Philadelphia or New York, concerning the 
 completion of the treaty, nor any measures taken for the reduc- 
 tion of the army, my detention with it is quiie uncertain. 
 Where I may be, then, at the lime of your intended visit, is too 
 uncertain even for conjecture ; but nothing can be more true 
 than that the pleasure with which I shall receive you will be 
 equal to your wishes. I shall be better able to determine then, 
 than now, on the practicability of accompanying you to France, 
 a country to which I' shall ever feel a warm affection ; and, if I 
 do not pay it that tribute of respect, which is to be derived 
 from a visit, if may be ascribed with justice to any other cause, 
 than a want of inclination, or the pleasure of going there under 
 the auspices of your friendship. 
 
 I have already observed that the determination of Congress, 
 if they have come to any, respecting the army, is yet unknown 
 to me. But, as you wish to be informed of every thing that 
 concerns it, I do, for your satisfaction, transmit authentic docu- 
 
t0m 
 
 12 
 
 merits of some very interesting occurrences, which have hap- 
 pened within the last six months. But I ought first to premise, 
 that, from accumulated sufferings and liltle or no prospect of 
 relief, the discontents of the officers last fall jjut on the threat- 
 ening appearance of a total resignation, till the business was 
 diverted into the channel, which produced the address and peti- 
 tion to Congress, which stand first on the file herewith enclosed. 
 I shall make no comment on these proceedings. To one so 
 well acquainted with the sufferings of the American army as 
 you are, it is unneci jsary. It will be sufficient to observe, that 
 the more its virtue and forbearance are tried, the more resplen- 
 dent it appears. My hope is, that the military exit of this valu- 
 able class of the community will exhibit such a proof of amor 
 pattUc, as will do them honor in the page of history. 
 
 These papers, with my last letter, which was intended to 
 go by Colonel Gouvion, containing extensive details of military 
 plans, will convey to you every information. If you should get 
 sleepy and tired of reading them, recollect, for my exculpation, 
 that it is in compliance with your request I have run into such 
 prolixity. I made a proper use of the confidential part of your 
 letter of the sth of February. 
 
 The scheme, my dear Marquis, which you propose as a 
 precedent to encourage the emancipation of the black people in 
 this country from that state of bondage in which they are held, 
 is a striking evidence of the benevolence of your heart. I shall 
 be happy to join you in so laudable a work; but will defer going 
 into a detail of the business, till I have the pleasure of seeing you. 
 
 Tilghman is on the point of matrimony with a namesake 
 and cousin, sister to Mrs. Carroll of Baltimore. It only remains 
 for me now, my dear Marquis, to make a tender of my respect- 
 ful compliments, in which Mrs. Washington unites, to Madame 
 de Lafayette, and to wish you, her, and your liLtle offspring, all 
 the happiness this life can afford. I will extend my compli- 
 ments to the gentlemen in your circle, with whom I have the 
 honor of an acquaintance. I need not add how happy I shall 
 be to see you in America, and more particularly at Mount Ver- 
 non, or with what truth and warmth of affection I am, &c. 
 
 WASHINGTON TO LAFAYETTE. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 8 December, 17S4. 
 My Dear Marquis: — The peregrination of the day in 
 which I parted from you ended at Marlborough. The next day, 
 bad as it was, I got home before dinner. 
 
 *«?*»*» m0mmm^m^msm0^^&^mf 
 
iS^:- 
 
 ;h have hap- 
 L to premise, 
 
 prospect of 
 1 the threat- 
 jusiness was 
 ess and peti- 
 ith enclosed. 
 
 To one so 
 can army as 
 observe, that 
 lore resplen- 
 of this valu- 
 roof of amor 
 
 intended to 
 s of military 
 LI should get 
 
 exculpation, 
 Lin into such 
 part of your 
 
 iropose as a 
 ick people in 
 ley are held, 
 iart. I shall 
 1 defer going 
 if seeing you. 
 a namesake 
 only remains 
 : my respect- 
 , to Madame 
 offspring, all 
 
 my compli- 
 1 I have the 
 lappy I shall 
 
 Mount Ver- 
 im, &c. 
 
 mber, 1784. 
 
 I the day in 
 rhe next day, 
 
 13 
 
 "In the moment of our separation, upon the road as I 
 travelled, and every hour since, I have felt all that love, respect, 
 and attachment for you, wuh which length of years, close con- 
 nexion, and your merits have inspired me. I often asked 
 myself, as our carriages separated, whether that was the last 
 sight 1 ever should have of you ? And though I wished to say 
 No, my fears answered Yes.' I called to mind the days of my 
 youth, and found they had long since fled to return no more; 
 that I was now descending the hill I had been fifty-two years 
 climbing, and that, though I was blest with a good constitution, 
 I was of a short-lived family, and might soon expect to be 
 entombed in the mansion of my fathers. These thoughts 
 darkened the shades, and gave a gloom to the picture, and con- 
 sequently to my prospect of seeing you again. But I will not 
 repine . I have had my day. 
 
 " Nothing of importance has occurred since I parted with 
 you. I found my family well, and am now immersed in com- 
 pany ; notwithstanding which, I have in haste produced a few 
 more letters to give you the trouble of, rather inclining to 
 commit them to your care, than to pass them through many and 
 unknown hands. 
 
 " It is unnecessary, I persuade myself, to repeat to you, my 
 oear Marquis, the sincerity of my regards and friendship ; nor 
 have I words which could express my affection for you, were I 
 to attempt it. My fervent prayers are offered for your safe 
 and pleasant passage, happy meeting with Madame de Lafayette 
 and family, and the jompletion of every wish of your heart ; in 
 all which Mrs. Washington joins me ; as she does in compli- 
 ments to Captain Grandecheau, and the Chevalier, of whom 
 little Washington often speaks. With every sentiment, which 
 is propitious and endearing, I am, &c." 
 
 WASHINGTON TO LAFAYETTE. 
 
 " Philadelphia, is Au^ist, 1787. 
 " Mv Dear Marquis : — Although the business of the 
 federal convention is not yet closed, nor I, thereby, enabled to 
 give you an account of its proceedings, yet the opportunity 
 afforded by Commodore Paul Jones's retu n to France is too 
 favorable for me to omit informing you, that the present ex- 
 pectation of the members is, that it will end about the first of 
 next month, when, or as soon after as it shall be in my power, 
 I will communicate the result of our long deliberation to you. 
 
 , A...>.. 
 
 ,«9iM«Msa"»»< 
 
 i^iis'«»eA«*t«i^iavi»*i^'^^.so^''*^-'-'-"«' 
 
■Mi 
 
 u 
 
 "Newspaper accounts inform us, that the session of the 
 Assembly of Notables is ended ; and you have had the goodness, 
 in your letter of the 5th of May, to communicate some of the 
 proceedings to me ; among which is that of the interesting 
 motion made by yourself, respecting the expenditure of public 
 money by Monsieur de Calonne, and the consequence thereof. 
 "The patriotism, by which this motion was dictated, throws 
 a lustre on the action, which cannot fail to dignify the author; 
 and I sincerely hope with you, that much good will result from 
 the deliberations of so respectable a council. I am not less 
 ardent in my wish, that you may succeed in your plan of tolera- 
 tion in religious matters. Being no bigot myself to any mode of 
 worship, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity 
 in the church with that road to Heaven, which to them shall 
 seen, the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable to 
 exception. 
 
 " The politicians of this country hardly know what to make 
 of the present situation of European affairs. If serious conse- 
 quences do not follow the blood, which has been shed in the 
 United Netherlands, these people will certainly have acted 
 differently from the rest of mankind; and, in another quarter, 
 one would think there could hardly be so much smoke without 
 some fire between the Russians and Turks. Should these dis- 
 putes kindle the flame of war, it is not easy to prescribe bounds 
 to its extension or effect. The disturbances in Massachusetts 
 have subsided, but there are seeds of discontent in every part of 
 this Union ; ready to produce other disorders, if the wisdom of 
 the present convention should not be able to devise, and the 
 good sense of the people be found ready to adopt, a more 
 vio-orous and energetic government, than the one under which 
 we now live ; for the present, from experience, has been found too 
 feeble and inadequate to give that security, which our liberties 
 and property render absolutely essential, and which the fulfil- 
 ment of public faith loudly requires. 
 
 "Vain is it to look for respect from abroad, or tranquillity at 
 home ; vain is it to murmur at the detention of our western 
 posts, or complain of the restriction of our commerce : vain are 
 all the attempts to remf ly the evils comjDlained of by Dr. Dumas, 
 to discharge the interest due on foreign loans, or satisfy the 
 claiii s of foreign officers, the neglect of doing which is a high 
 impeachment of our national character, and is hurtful to the 
 feelings of every well-wisher to this country in and out of it ; 
 vain is it to talk of chastising the Algerines, or doing ourselves 
 
 ^'^rnv s mmmsmmmm! . > - 
 
jssion of the 
 the gnodness, 
 some of the 
 e interesting 
 lire of public 
 ence thereof. 
 ;tated, throws 
 f the author ; 
 1 result from 
 am not less 
 Ian of tolera- 
 I any mode of 
 f Christianity 
 to them shall 
 ast liable to 
 
 what to make 
 erious conse- 
 1 shed in the 
 f have acted 
 3ther quarter, 
 moUe without 
 uld these dis- 
 5cribe bounds 
 Massachusetts 
 1 every part of 
 he wisdom of 
 vise, and the 
 dopt, a more 
 I under which 
 leen found too 
 1 our liberties 
 lich the fulfil- 
 
 r tranquillity at 
 : our western 
 ;rce : vain are 
 by Dr. Dumas, 
 or satisfy the 
 bich is a high 
 hurtful to the 
 and out of it ; 
 oing ourselves 
 
 IS 
 
 justice in any other respect, till tne wisdom and force of the 
 Union can be more concentrated and better applied. With 
 sentiments of the highest respect, and most perfect regard for 
 Madame de Lafayette and your family, and with^the most affec- 
 tionate attachment to you, I am ever yours, &c." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM LETTER OF LAFAYETTE TO 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 "Paris, Marr.k nih, lyqo. 
 
 " Our revolution is getting on as well as it can with a nation 
 that has attained its liberty at once, and is still liable to mistake 
 licentiousness for freedom. The Assembly have more hatred 
 to the ancient system, tnan experience in the proper organiza- 
 tion of a new and constitutional government. The ministe- 
 are lamenting their loss of power, and afraid to use that, whuu 
 they have ; and, as everv thing has been destroyed, and not 
 much of tlie new building is yet above ground, there is room for 
 criticisms and calumnies. To this it may be added, that we still 
 are pestered by two parties, the aristocratic, that is panting for 
 a counter revolutior,, and the factious, which aims at the division 
 of the empire and destruction of all authority, and perhaps of 
 the lives of the reigning b.anch both of which parties are 
 fomenting troubles. , . 
 
 ■ "After I have confessed all tus, I will tell you with the 
 same candor that we have made an admirable and almost 
 incredible destruction of all abuses and prejudices; that every 
 thinc^ not directly useful to, or coming from, the people has been 
 levelled ; that, in the topographical, moral, and political situntion 
 of France, we have made more changes in ten months, than the 
 most saguine patriots could have imagined ; that our internal 
 troubles and anarchy are much exaggerated ; and that, upon the 
 whole, this revolution, in which nothing will be wanting but 
 ener"-y of o-overnment as it was in America, will implant liberty 
 and make it flourish throughout the world ; while we must wait 
 fo' a convention in a few years to mend some defects, which ire 
 not now perceived by men just escaped from aristocracy and 
 
 ^^^" Give me leave, my dear General, to present you with a 
 picture of the Bastille, just as it looked a few days after I had 
 ordered its demolition,' with the main key* of the fortress ot 
 
 * The key of the Bastille, and the drawing here mentioned, are still pre- 
 served in the mansion-house at Mount Vernon. 
 
 B^itifci*^iS>i*»»«*^''*^'**'*' 
 
..fliiliiilii 
 
 l6 
 
 despotism. It is a tribute, which 1 owe as a son to my adopted 
 father, as an aid-de-camp to my general, as a missionary o. lib- 
 erty to its patriach." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM LETTER OF EAFAYETTE TO 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 •'Paris, Juried, ijgi. 
 
 " I rejoice and glory in the happy situation of American 
 affairs I bless the restoration of your health, and wish I could 
 congratulate you on your side of the Ailanlic, but we are not in 
 that state of tranquillity which may admit of my absence; the 
 refugees hovering about the frontiers, intrigues in most of the 
 despotic and aristocratic cabinets, our regular army divided into 
 Torv officers and undisciplined soldiers, licentiousness among 
 the people not easily repressed, the capital, that gives the tone 
 to the empire, tossed about by anti-revolutionary or factious 
 parties, the Assembly fatigued by hard labor, and very unman- 
 ageable. However, according to the popular motto. La ira, it 
 will do ' We are introducing as fast as we can religious liberty. 
 The Assembly has put an end to its existence by a new convo- 
 cation : has imt^tted its own members for immediate reelection 
 and for places in the executive ; and is now reducing the consti- 
 tution to a few principal articles, leaving the legislative assem- 
 blies to examine and mend the others, and preparing every tiling 
 for a convention as soon as our machine shall have had a tair 
 trial. As to the surrounding govt , nments, they hate our revolu- 
 tion, but do not know how to meddle with it, so afraid are they 
 of catching the phiguer 
 
 LAFAYETTE TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 " Paris, 15 March, ijgz. 
 
 " My Dear General : — I have been called from the army 
 to this capital for a conference between the two other generals, 
 the ministers, and myself, and am about returning to my military 
 post The coalition between the continental powers respect- 
 in- our affairs is certain, and will not be broken by the Emper- 
 or^s death. But, although warlike preparations are going on, it 
 is very doubtful whether our neighbours will attempt to stiHe so 
 very catching a thing as liberty. •„.„.!,„ 
 
 " The danger for us lies in our state of anarchy, owiag to the 
 ignorance of the people, the number of non-proprietors, the 
 
 's;^^m^^^Mm 
 
my adopted 
 lonary of lib- 
 
 \E TO 
 
 'M( 6, ijgr. 
 
 of American 
 wish I could 
 ■e are not in 
 absence; the 
 I most of the 
 
 Y divided into 
 sness among 
 ves the tone 
 
 V or factious 
 very unnian- 
 
 o, Ca ira, ' 1 1 
 
 igious liberty. 
 
 a new convo- 
 ate reelection 
 
 ng the consti- 
 slative assem- 
 ng every thing 
 ve had a fair 
 ite our revolu- 
 Fraid are they 
 
 \farch, lygs. 
 
 [rom the army 
 ther generals, 
 to my military 
 )wers respect- 
 ly the Emper- 
 :e going on, it 
 pt to stifle so 
 
 J, owik'ig to the 
 oprietors, the 
 
 ,7 „:..'■:, 
 
 jealousy of every governing measure, all which inconveniences 
 are worked up by designing men, or aristocrats in disguise, but 
 both extremely tend to defeat our ideas of public order. Do 
 not believe, however, the exaggerated accounts you may receive, 
 particularly from England. That liberty and equality will be 
 preserved in France, there is no doubt; in case there were, you 
 well know that I vould noi, if they fall, survive them. But you 
 may be assured, t.iat we shall emerge from this unpleasant 
 situation, either by an honorable defence, or by internal 
 improvements. How far this constitution of ours insures a good 
 government has not been as yet fairly experienced. This only 
 we know, that it has restored to the people their rights, destroyed 
 almost every abuse, and turned French vassalage and slavery 
 into national dignity, and the enjoyment of those faculties, which 
 nature has given and society ought to insure, 
 
 " Give me leave to you aione to offer an observation respect- 
 ing the late choice of the American ambassador. You know I 
 am personally a friend to Gouverneur Morris, and ever as a 
 private man have been satisfied with him. But the aristocratic, 
 and indeed counter-revolutionary principles he has professed, 
 unfitted him to be the representative of the only nation, whose 
 politics have a likeness to ours, since they are founded on the 
 plan of a reprerentative democracy. This I may add, that, 
 surrounded with enemies as France is, it looks as if America 
 was preparing for a change in this government ; not only that 
 kind of a'^Tation, which the democrats may wish for and bring 
 ab*" '. -jc the wild attempts of aristocracy, such as the restora- 
 tion 01 a noblesse, a House of Lords, and such other political 
 blemishes, which, while we live, cannot be reestablished in 
 France. I wish we had an elective Senate, a more independent 
 set of judges, and a more energetic administration ; but the 
 people must be taught the advantages of a firni government 
 before they reconcile it to their ideas of freedom, and can dis- 
 tinguish it from the arbitrary systems, which they have just got 
 over. You see, my dear General, I am not an enthusiast for 
 every part of our constitution, although I love its principles, 
 which are the same as those of the United States, except the 
 hereditary character of the president of the executive, which I 
 think suitable to our circumstances. But I hate every thing 
 like despotism and aristocracy, and I cannot help wishing the 
 American and French principles were in the heart and on the 
 lips of the American ambassador in France. This I mention to 
 you alone. _, , , 
 
 ,>SW*****»"' 
 
 . A'JMUi H*W W •Mt'ci 
 
 ^.^^ttfSti'k^^i^.litSid^tK^^'if^'^/, 
 
|8 
 
 "There have been changes in the ministry. The King has 
 chosen his council from the most violent popular pa.ty in the 
 Jacobin club, a Jesuitic institution, more fit to make deserters 
 from our cause than converts to it. The new ministers, how- 
 ever, being unsuspected, have a chance to restore public order, 
 and say they will improve it. The Assembly are wild, unin- 
 formed, and too fond of popular applause ; the King, slow and 
 rather backward in his daily conduct, although now and then he 
 acts full well ; but upon the whole it will do, and the success of 
 our revolution cannot be questioned. 
 
 " My command extends on the frontiers from Givet to Bitche. 
 I have sixty thousand men, a number that is increasing now, as 
 young men pour in from every part of the empire to fill up the 
 regiments. This voluntary recruiting shows a most patriotic 
 spirit. I am going to encamp thirty thousand men, with a 
 detached corps, in an intrenched can p. The remainder will 
 occupy the fortified places. The armiei of Mar^chals Luckner 
 and Rochambeau are inferior to n-.ine, because we have sent 
 many regiments to the southward ; but, in case we have a war to 
 undertake, we may gather respectable forces. 
 
 " Our emigrants are beginning to come in. Their situation 
 abroad is miserable, and, in case even we quarrel with our 
 neighbours, they will be out of the question. Our paper money 
 has been of late rising very fast. Manufactures of every kind 
 are much employed. The farmer finds his cares alleviated, and 
 will feel the m re happy under our constitution, as the Assembly 
 are going to give up their patronage of one set of priests. You 
 see, that, although we have many causes tc be as yet unsatisfied, 
 we may hope every thing will by and by come right. Licentious- 
 ness, under the mask of patriotism, is our greatesi evil, as it 
 threatens property, tranquillity, and liberty itself. Adieu, my 
 dear General. My best respects wait on Mrs. Washington. 
 Remember me most affectionately to our friends, and think 
 sometimes of your respectful, loving, and filial friend, 
 
 Lafayette." 
 
 l^fayette was but eighteen years old in 1776, when he conceived the 
 idea of coming to America to espouse the cause of the Cjlonies against 
 (heat Britain. The account of the dinner at Metz, where his interest and 
 symiiathy were first aroused by the conversation of the French and English 
 officers, is familiar to all readers of the life of Lafayette ; and all will remem- 
 ber his intei \ ;cw with Silas Deane in Paris and the many obstacles which he 
 encountered previous to his secret sailing from Passage, in the spring of 
 1777. with Baron de Kalb and others, in the ship provided at his own 
 
 n 
 
■K^ 
 
 The King has 
 ir party in the 
 np.ke deserters 
 ninisters, how- 
 ; public order, 
 are wild, unin- 
 tCing, slow and 
 )w and then he 
 
 the success of 
 
 jivet to Bitche. 
 
 easing now, as 
 
 to fill up the 
 
 most patriotic 
 
 d men, with a 
 
 remainder will 
 
 chals Luckner 
 
 we have sent 
 
 e have a war to 
 
 Their situation 
 irrel with our 
 r paper money 
 
 of every kind 
 alleviated, and 
 s the Assembly 
 
 priests. You 
 yet unsatisfied, 
 t. Licentious- 
 tesi evil, as it 
 If. Adieu, my 
 5. Washington, 
 ids, and think 
 end, 
 
 FAYETTE." 
 
 he conceived the 
 Colonies against 
 ! his interest and 
 fnch and English 
 nd all will remem- 
 bistacles which he 
 in the spring of 
 vided at his own 
 
 19 
 
 expense. He landed near Ceorgetown in South Carolina and was conveyed 
 directly to Charleston. His interesting letter to his wife, written from 
 Charleston, 19 June, 1777, giving his first impressions of America, should be 
 read; it may be found in Sparks's edition of Washington's Writings, v, 451. 
 The party immediately proceeded from Charleston to Philadelphia, and it 
 was here that Lafayette first met Washington, who was warmly drawn to the 
 gallant young man from the first and soon became his devoted friend. The 
 story of that friendship, a friendship enduring, as warm on the one s'de as 
 on the other, until Washington's death, is a part of history. The letters, 
 here given are not only expressions of that friendship but interesting chapters 
 out of the great history which Washington and Lafayette helped to make in 
 An\erica and in France. Although the pre.sent leaflet is swelled to un- 
 usual dimensions, the student must remember that these letters are but a 
 verv few out of very many that passed between the two great men, all of 
 which are worthy ot careful attention. 
 
 The first letters belong to the trying time of Conway's Cabal and show 
 the complete confidence which Washington and Lafayette reposed in each 
 other. It was a few months after the date of these letters that Lafayette 
 wrote to Baron Steuben : 
 
 "Permit me to express my satisfaction at your having seen General 
 Washington. No enemies to that great man can be found, except among 
 the enemies to his country; nor is it possible for any man of a noble spirit 
 to refrain from loving the excellent cpialities of his heart. I think I know 
 him as well as any person, and such is the idea which I have formed of him. 
 His honesty, his frankness, his sensibility, his virtue, to the full extent in 
 which this word can be understood, are above all praise. It is not for me to 
 judge of his military talents; but according to my imperfect knowledge of 
 these matters, his advice in council has always appeared to me the best, 
 although his modesty prevents him sometimes from sustaining it ; and his 
 predictions have ger.frally b=!en fulfilled. I am the more happy in giving 
 you this opinion of my friend, with all the sincerity which I feel, because 
 some persons may perhaps attempt to deceive you on this point." 
 
 In a letter to Lafayette, 25 Septeir/ber, 1778, on the eve of his first 
 return to France, Washington writes : 
 
 " The sentiments of affection and attachment, which breathe so conspicu- 
 ously in a^il your letters to me, are at once pleasing and honorable, and 
 aflo.-d me abund.int cause to rejoice at the happiness of my acquaintance 
 with you. Your love of liberty, the just sense you entertain of this valuable 
 blessing, and your noble and disinterested exertions in the cause of it, added 
 to the innate goodness of your heart, conspire to render you dear to me ; and 
 I think myself happy in being linked with you in bonds of the strictest friend- 
 ship. The ardent zeal which you have displayed during the \yhole coiirse 
 of the campaign to the eastward, and your endeavours to cherish harmony 
 among the officers of the allied jjowers, and to dispel those unfavorable im- 
 pressions which had begun to take place in the minds of the unthinking, 
 from misfortunes which the utmost stretch of human foresight could not 
 avert, deserves, and now receives, ray particular and warmest thanks." 
 
 To Fr.nklin, then in Paris, Washington immediately afterwards wrote 
 of Lafayette as ftOlows : 
 
 " The gonerous motives which first induced him to cross the .Atlantic ; 
 the tribute which he paid to gallantry at the Brandywine ; his success in 
 Jersey before he had recovered from hi^ wounds, in an affair where he com- 
 
 
k«1 
 
 7^ 
 
 iMHi 
 
 20 
 
 manded militia apainsf Hritisli grenadiers ; tlie biilliant retreat, Iiy wIulH he 
 eluded a coraljinfd manoeuvre of the whole Urilish force in the last cam- 
 paign ; his services in the enterprise against Khode Island — are such proofs 
 of his zeal, military ardor, and talents, as have endeared liim t" America, 
 and must greatly recommend him to his I'rince. Coming wi so many 
 titles to claim your esteem, it were needles-- for any other purp..jt, than to 
 indulge my own feelings, to add, that I have a very particulnr friendship for 
 him; and'that whatever services you may have it in your power to render 
 him will confer an obligation on me." 
 
 The letter from Lafayette in France, i2 June, 1779, here given, and 
 Washington's replv, 30 Sept., 1779, afford pleasant glimpses into the 
 domestic lives of the two men, as well as valuable comments upon the 
 political situation. Lafavette came back to America and rendered valuable 
 service d nvn to the practical termination of the war b\ ihe capture of Corn- 
 wallis in 17S1. Returning to France, Washington's I iter of 5 April, 1783, 
 shows that it was from him that Washington first had the news of the treaty 
 of peace. This letter is also interesting as revealing a scheme of l^fayette's 
 for the emancipation of the negroes in America. In 1784 Lafayette came to 
 America agam, visiting Washington at Ml. V'ernon. The fond and sad letter 
 from Washington, 8 December, 1784, here given, was written just as 
 Lafayette was returning to France. Washington's foreboding that he 
 should never again see Lafayette proved true, 
 
 Washington's letter of August 15, 1787, belongs to the time of the 
 Constitutional Convention. The letters of April 28, 17S8 (Washington's 
 Writings, ix, 354), and June 18, 1788 (do., ix, 379), which followed, should 
 be read for their valuable political passages. Lafayette's letter of March 17, 
 1790, here given, shows him in the midst of the exciting events of the French 
 Revolution. Washington's answer to this may be found in Sparks's edition 
 of his Writings, x, 105. Washington's last letter to Lafayette before the 
 latter's imprisonment was dated Sept. 10, 1791. It concludes as follows : 
 
 " I sincerely wish that the affairs of your country were in such a train 
 as would permit you to relax a little from the excessive fatigues to which 
 you have of late been exposed ; and I cannot help looking forward with an 
 anxious wish, and a lively hope, to the time when peace and tranquillity will 
 reign in your borders, under the sanction of a respectable government, 
 founded on the broad basis of liberality and the rights of man. It must be 
 so. The great Ruler of events will not ))ermit tiu- happiness of so many 
 millions to be destroyed ; and to his keepi.ig I resign you, my dear Sir, with 
 all that friendship and affectionate attachment, with vhich you know me to 
 be, &c." 
 
 Lafayette's last letter to Washington before his imprisonment was dated 
 Paris, 15'March, 1792, and is includod in the present leaflet. It is of the 
 highest value for its observations upon the course of the French Revolution, 
 at that time, when events were rapidly hastening en toward the Reign of 
 Terror. Washington's efforts for Lafayette's reease appear from the 
 correspondence in Sparks, vol. x ; and his last letters to Lafayette are given 
 in vol. xi. 
 
tat, liy which he 
 ill the last cam- 
 arc such proofs 
 him I" \merlca, 
 g wi so many 
 purp-.^i, than to 
 r>r friendship for 
 power to render 
 
 here given, and 
 Impses into the 
 imeiits upon the 
 endered valuable 
 capture of Corn- 
 of 5 April, 1783, 
 ews of the treaty 
 me of l-afayette's 
 ,afayette came to 
 und and sad letter 
 
 written just as 
 boding that he 
 
 the time of the 
 18 (Washington's 
 
 followed, should 
 itterof March 17, 
 ;nts of the French 
 1 Sparks's edition 
 ayette before the 
 les as follows : 
 ;re in such a train 
 Fatigues to which 
 
 forward with an 
 id tranquillity will 
 ible government, 
 man. It must be 
 iness of so manv 
 my dear Sir, witfi 
 
 you know me to 
 
 inment was dated 
 flet. It is of the 
 "rench Revolution, 
 ard the Reign of 
 appear from the 
 afayctte are given 
 
 SEVKNTH SERIES. iSXij. No. 7. 
 
 The Declaration 
 
 of 
 
 Independence. 
 
 I 
 
 Jh Congress, July 4, lT}b. 
 
 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States or 
 
 America. 
 
 When in tht. oiirse of human ;ents, it becomes neces- 
 sary for one peof to dissolve tiie political bands which have 
 connected them '/Uh another, and to assume among the Powers 
 of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws 
 of Nature and ot Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect 
 to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare 
 the causes which impel them to the separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
 created equal, that they rre endowed by their Creator with 
 certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty 
 and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, 
 Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any 
 Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is 
 the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute 
 new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and 
 organizing its powers in such form, as to theni shall seem most 
 likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, 
 will dictate that Governments long established should not be 
 changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all ex- 
 perience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
 while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing 
 the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
 train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 
 Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despot- 
 Ism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Govern- 
 Jient, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — 
 Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies ; and 
 such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their 
 
former Systems of Government, The history of the present 
 King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and 
 usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an 
 absolute 'I'yranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts 
 be submitted to a candid world. 
 
 He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome 
 and necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate 
 and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
 till his Assent should be obtained ; and when so susijended, he 
 has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
 
 He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation 
 of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
 the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestima- 
 ble to them and formidable to tyrants only. 
 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
 uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public 
 Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
 with his measures. 
 
 He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for 
 opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the 
 people. 
 
 He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to 
 cause others to be elected ; whereby the Legislative Powers, in- 
 capable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large 
 for their exercise ; the State remaining in the mean time ex- 
 posed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convul- 
 sions within. 
 
 He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these 
 States ; for that purpose obstnicting the Laws for Naturalization 
 of Foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage their migra- 
 tion hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of 
 
 Lands. . . . , ^ • t 
 
 He has obstructed the Aamnustration of Justice, by refus- 
 ing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. 
 
 He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the 
 tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
 
 salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither 
 swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their sub- 
 
 stciricc 
 
 He has kept among us, in times of peace. Standing Armies 
 without the Consent of our legislature. 
 
 ' He has affected to render the Military indeperdent of and 
 superior to the Civil Power. 
 
 i 
 
(fie present 
 
 i'ljurios iind 
 
 iliiiK'iit of an 
 
 lis, let Facts 
 
 St wliolesoine 
 
 of immediate 
 eir operation 
 iisix;iided, he 
 
 commodalion 
 lid relinquish 
 gilt inestima- 
 
 aces uniisiial, 
 
 their Public 
 
 :o compliance 
 
 iljeatedly, for 
 rights of the 
 
 issolulions, to 
 ve Powers, in- 
 sople at large 
 lean time ex- 
 :, and convul- 
 
 tion of these 
 Sfaturalization 
 ;e theirmigra- 
 ropriations of 
 
 tice, by refus- 
 Powers. 
 alone, for the 
 ment of their 
 
 nd sent hither 
 out their sub- 
 
 nding Armies 
 
 3r dent of and 
 
 J 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
 foreign to our ronstitution, and unacknowledged i)y our laws; 
 giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation : 
 
 For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 
 
 For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment 
 for any Ilurders which they should commit on the Inhabitants 
 of these States : 
 
 For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world : 
 
 For imposing taxes on us without our Consent : 
 
 For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by 
 Jury : 
 
 For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended 
 offences : 
 
 For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neigh- 
 bouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, 
 and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an ex- 
 ample and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule 
 into these Colonies : 
 
 For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable 
 Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Govern- 
 ments : 
 
 For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring them- 
 selves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases what- 
 soever. 
 
 He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of 
 his Protection and waging War against us. 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our 
 towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
 
 He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign 
 mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and 
 tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy 
 scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally un- 
 worthy the Head of a civilized nation. 
 
 He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on 
 the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become 
 the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall them- 
 selves by their Hands. 
 
 He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has 
 endeavoured to bring .n the inhabitants of our frontiers, the 
 merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an 
 undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. 
 
 In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned 
 for Redress in the most humble terms : Our repeated Petitions 
 have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose 
 
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character is thus marked by every act which may define a 
 Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People 
 
 Nor have We been wanting in attention to our Brittish 
 brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts 
 by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction 
 over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our 
 emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their 
 native justice and magnanimity, and we iiave conjured them by 
 the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, 
 which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and corre- 
 spondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and 
 of consanguinity. We must, tlierefore, acquiesce in the neces- 
 sity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we 
 hold the rest of mankind. Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. 
 
 We, therefore, tho Representatives of the united States of 
 America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the 
 Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, 
 do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these 
 Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United 
 Colonic-s are, and of Right ought to be Free and huiependent 
 States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the 
 British ''Jrown, and that all political connection between them 
 and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dis- 
 solved ; and that as Free and .independent States, they have 
 full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, es- 
 tablish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which 
 Independent States may of right do. And for the support of 
 this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of 
 Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, 
 our Foitunes and our sacred Honor. 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 iVrtf Hampshire — Josiah Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Mat- 
 thew Thornton. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay — Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. 
 Treat Paink, Elbridge Gerry. 
 
 Jihot/e Ishmd — Step. Hopkins, William Ellerv. 
 
 Connecticut— Roger Sherman, Sam'el Huntington, Wm. 
 Williams, Oliver Wolcoit. 
 
 Nc2o York — Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frans. Lewis, 
 Lewis Morris. 
 
 Nero Jersey — Richd. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, 
 Fras. Hopkinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark. 
 
 Pennsylvania — Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. 
 
 .c=SKtf*6s*«aSI«!ga#iSSi3ie!SS*S6, 
 
may define a 
 
 o our Brittish 
 
 lie of attempts 
 
 e jurisdiction 
 
 istances of our 
 
 ealed to their 
 
 jured them by 
 
 se usurpations, 
 
 ons and corre- 
 
 e of justice and 
 
 ;e in the ncces- 
 
 d them, as we 
 
 jace Friends. 
 
 mitcd States of 
 
 ipealing to the 
 
 our intentions. 
 
 People of these 
 
 : these United 
 
 id Inciependent 
 
 egiance to the 
 
 1 between them 
 
 be totally dis- 
 
 Itates, they have 
 
 :t Alliances, es- 
 
 d Things which 
 
 r the support of 
 
 : Protection of 
 
 other our Lives, 
 
 ANCOCK. 
 Whipple, Mat- 
 Adams, RoBT. 
 Ellery. 
 
 fNTINGTON', Wm. 
 
 r, Frans. Lewis, 
 
 WiTHERSPOON, 
 
 Rush, Benja. 
 
 ■.-•;i<V''-]^i-'-ii'ii-» 
 
 Franklin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. 
 Taylor, James Wilson, Geo. Ross. 
 
 .Ddawnre — Cvesar Rodney, Geo. Read, Tho. M'Kean. 
 
 Mary/and — Samuel Chase, Wm. ?aca, Thos. Stone, 
 Charles Carroll of CarroUton. 
 
 Virginia — George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Th 
 Jefferson, Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr., Francis 
 l.iGHTFooT Lee, Carter Braxton. 
 
 North Carolina — Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John 
 Fenn. 
 
 South C((rolina — Edward Rutledge, Thos. Heyward, 
 Junr., Thomas Lynch, Junr., Arthur Middleton. 
 
 Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton. 
 
 JEFFERSON'S ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF THE 
 DECLARATION. 
 
 This copy of Jefferson's original draught of the Declaration 
 of Independence, now in the State Department at Washington, 
 is here given, for comparison with the document as finally 
 passed. The parts struck out by Congress are inclosed in 
 brackets and printed in italics, and the amendments are indi- 
 cated at the bottom of the page. 
 
 A declaration by the representatives of the united 
 
 STATES OF AMERICA, IN GENERAL CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. 
 
 When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
 for one people to dissolve the political bands which have con- 
 nected them with another, and to assume among the powers of 
 the earth the saparate and equal station to which the laws of 
 nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 
 opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the 
 causes which impel them to the separation. 
 
 We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are 
 created equal ; that they are endowed by their creator with [/«- 
 herent and^ ' inalienable rights ; that among these are life, lib- 
 erty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, 
 
 ill. 
 
 i 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 'W 
 
.amm 
 
 MM 
 
 governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any 
 form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
 right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new 
 government, laying its founda'ion on such principles, and or- 
 ganizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most 
 likely to effect thtir safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, 
 will dictate that governments long established should not be 
 changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all ex- 
 perience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to sulTer 
 while evils are sufTerable, than to right themselves by abolish- 
 ing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long 
 train of abuses and usurpations [^^^trww at a distinguished period 
 ind] pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to 
 reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
 their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new 
 guards for their future security. Such has been the patient 
 sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity 
 which constrains them to [ex/>ung,y their former systems of 
 government. The history of the present King of Great Britain 
 is it history of [iinr^mitting] ' injuries and usurpations, {among 
 which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the 
 rest, hut all havcY in direct object 'he establishment of an abso- 
 lute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be sub- 
 mitted to a candid woild \/or the truth of which we pledge a faith 
 yet unsullied by falsehood\ 
 
 He has refusod his assent to laws the most wholesome and 
 necessary for the public good. 
 
 He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
 and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
 till his assent should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he 
 has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
 
 He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation 
 of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish 
 the right of representation in tiie Legislature, a right inestimable 
 to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 
 
 He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
 uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public 
 records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
 with his measures. 
 
 He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly \and 
 continually\ for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on 
 the rights of the people. 
 
 ' alter 
 
 ' repeated 
 
 ' all having 
 
 '■*^^mmnim-^"m>m^mmMmmxm'^m>mmwMMmmBWMWMfM;B : 
 
 
 'S 
 
ving their just 
 
 |t whenever any 
 
 ie ends, it is the 
 
 to institute new 
 
 [nciples, and or- 
 
 hall seem most 
 
 udence, indeed, 
 
 should not be 
 
 :ordingly all ex- 
 
 sposed to suffer 
 
 Ives by abolish- 
 
 iut when a long 
 
 fiiiguiskul period 
 
 ces a design to 
 
 theii- right, it is 
 
 to provide new 
 
 )een the patient 
 
 •w the necessity 
 
 mer systems of 
 
 of Great Britain 
 
 rpations, \among 
 
 'form tenor of the 
 
 nent of an abso- 
 
 let facts be sub- 
 
 we pledge a faith 
 
 t wholesome and 
 
 ivs of immediate 
 
 their operation 
 
 !0 suspended, he 
 
 accommodation 
 would relinquish 
 right inestimable 
 
 t places unusual, 
 ^ of their public 
 into compliance 
 
 repeatedly [and 
 lis invasions on 
 
 ' obstructed 
 
 'all having 
 
 He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to 
 cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, in- 
 capable of annihilation, have returned to the people at huge 
 for their exercise, the State remaining, in the meantime, ex- 
 posed to all the dangers of invasi(»n from without and convul- 
 sions within. 
 
 He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
 States ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization 
 of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migra- 
 tions iiither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations 
 of lands. 
 
 He has \suffered'\ ' the administration of justice [totally to 
 cease in some of these States'] ' refusing his assent to laws for es- 
 tablishing judiciary powers. 
 
 He has made \pur'] judges dependent on his will alone for 
 the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
 salaries. 
 
 He has erected a multitude of new offices, [hy a self assumed 
 power] and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our peo- 
 ple and eat out their substance. 
 
 He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies 
 [and ships ofiuar] without the consent of our Legislatures. 
 
 He has affected to render the military independent of, r.nd 
 superior to, the civil power. 
 
 He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
 foreign to our constitutions and unacknov/ledged by our laws, 
 giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation for quar- 
 tering large bodies of aimed troops among us ; for protecting 
 them by a mock trial from punishment for any mu-ders which 
 they should commit on the inhabitants of these States ; for cut- 
 ting off our trade with all parts of the world ; for imposing taxes 
 on us without our consent ; for depriving us [ ] ' of the benefits 
 of trial by jury ; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for 
 pretended offences ; for abolishing the free system of English 
 laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary 
 government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at 
 once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same 
 absolute rule into these [StatesY; for taking away our charters, 
 abolishing ^ur most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally 
 the forms of our governments ; for suspending our own Legis- 
 latures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate 
 for us in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 • by 
 
 in many cases 
 
 • Colonies 
 
 11 
 
 ! |i 
 
8 
 
 He lias abdicated government here \withdra7ving his gov- 
 (rttors, and daldring us out of his allegiance and protection].^ 
 
 He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
 towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
 
 He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign 
 mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and 
 tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy 
 [ ] ' unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 
 
 He has constrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on the 
 high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the ex- 
 ecutioners of their friends and brethren, or to faU themselves 
 by their hands. 
 
 He has [ ] ' endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our 
 frontiers the merciless Indian sav'ages, whose known rule of 
 warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and 
 conditions [of existence], 
 
 [He lias incited treasonable insurrectinns of our fellow-citizens, 
 with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation of our property. 
 
 He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating 
 its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant 
 people who never offended him, captivating and carrying thtm into 
 slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in tliHr 
 transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of 
 INFIDEL powers, is the warfare of the christian King of Great 
 Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should he 
 bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every 
 legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. 
 And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distin- 
 guished die, he is mnv exciting those very people to rise in arms, 
 among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived 
 them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them : thus 
 paying off former crimes committed agaimi the lii!ERTIES of one 
 people with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives 
 of another.] 
 
 In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for 
 redress in the most humble terms : our repeated petitions have 
 been answered only by repeated injuries. 
 
 A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act 
 which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a [ ] * peo- 
 
 ' by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. 
 'scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally 
 'excited domestic insurrection among us, and has 
 *free 
 
 .4s-' 7 ! 
 
 *v.%f4:i.^ 
 
7 
 
 <nving his ^ov- 
 
 asts, burnt our 
 
 ics of foreign 
 csolation, and 
 Ity and perfidy 
 
 captive on the 
 )ecome the ex- 
 lU themselves 
 
 ibitants of our 
 inown rule of 
 jes, sexes, and 
 
 fellow-citizens, 
 our property. 
 r itself, violating 
 nis of a distant 
 rying thtni into 
 r death in thdr 
 \ opprobrium of 
 King of Great 
 MEN should be 
 tppressing every 
 'rable commerce. 
 ) fact of distin- 
 '0 rise in armi 
 he has deprived 
 ded them : thus 
 i!ERTiES of one 
 ';ainst the lives 
 
 petitioned for 
 petitions have 
 
 by every act 
 of a [ J * peo- 
 
 ir against us. 
 otallv 
 
 ■■t$Wl>S»(A. 
 
 pie \ivlio mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely believe that the 
 hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve 
 years only, to lay a foundation so broad and so undisguised for tyr- 
 anny over a people fostered and fixed in principles of freedom. | 
 
 Nor have- we been wanting in attentions to our liritish 
 brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts 
 by "^heir leojislature to extend \ti\ ' jurisdiction over [these our 
 States].' Wo have reminded them of the circumstances of our 
 emigration and settlement here, [no one of wliich could warrant 
 so strange <i pretension : that these were effected at the expense of our 
 own blood (Ptd treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of 
 Great Britain : that in constituting indeed our several forms of 
 goi'crnment, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a 
 foundation for perpetual league and amity with them : but that sub- 
 mission to their parliament joas no part of our Constitution, nor 
 aier in idea, if history may be rredited: and,] we [ ] ^ appealed to 
 their native justice atid magnanimity [as well as to] * the ties of 
 our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which [were 
 likely to] ' interrupt our connection and correspondence. They 
 too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity, 
 [and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of 
 their laws, of r •amoving from their councils the disturbers of our 
 harmony, they have, by their free election, re-established them in 
 poKier. At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magis- 
 trate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch 
 and foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These facts have 
 given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to 
 renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to 
 forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest 
 of mankind, enemies in loar, in peace friends . We might have been 
 a free and a great people together ; but a communication of grandeur 
 and of freedom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they 
 will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open to us too. 
 We will tread it apart from them, and] ' acquiesce in the neces- 
 sity which denounces our [eternal] separation [ ] ' I 
 
 We therefore the represent- 
 atives of the United States 
 of America in General Con- 
 
 ' an unwarrantable 
 
 *and we have conjured them by 
 
 We therefore the represent- 
 atives of '.he United .States 
 of America in General Con- 
 
 ' us 'have 
 
 ' would inevitably 
 
 ' We must therefore 
 
 ' and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, la 
 peacn friends. 
 
 ^-i™':Mii«.^t 
 
'^Hm 
 
 m 
 
 10 
 
 gress assembled, appeal ng to 
 the supreme judj^e of the 
 world for the rectitude of our 
 ii:letUions, do in the name, 
 and by the authority of the 
 good people of these Colonies, 
 solemnly publish and declare, 
 that these united Colonies are, 
 and of right ought t* be, free 
 and independent States ; that 
 they are absolved from all 
 allegiance to the iiritish crown, 
 and that all political connec- 
 tion between them and the 
 state of Great Britain is, and 
 ought to be, totally dissolved ; 
 and that as free and indepen- 
 dent Slates, they have full 
 power to levy war, conclude 
 peace, contract alliances, es- 
 tablish commerce, and to do 
 all other acts and things which 
 independent States may of 
 right do. 
 
 And for the support of this 
 declaration, with a firm reliance 
 on the protection of divine 
 providence, we mutually pledge 
 to each other our lives, our 
 fortunes, and our sacred honor. 
 
 gress assembled, do in the 
 name, and by ilie authority of 
 the good people of these 
 [S/a/es rejixt and renounce all 
 a'kgiauce and subjection to the 
 kings of Great Britain and all 
 others 7(>ho may hereafter claim 
 by, through, or under them ; we 
 utterly dissolve all political con- 
 nection which may heretofore 
 hi:ve subsisted between us and 
 the people or parliament of Great 
 Britain: and finally we do as- 
 sert and declare these Colonies to 
 be free and independent States^ 
 and that as free and indepen- 
 dent States, they have full 
 power to levy war, conclude 
 peace, contract alliances, es- 
 tablish commerce, and to do 
 all other acts and things which 
 independent States may of 
 right do. 
 
 And for the support of 
 this declaration, we mutually 
 pledge to each other our lives, 
 our fortunes, and our sacred 
 honor. 
 
 The original copy of the Declaration of Independence, signed at Phil- 
 adelphb, is preserved at the Patent Office in Washington. It is not divided 
 into paragraphs, but dwhes are insened. The arrangement of paragraphs 
 here followed is that adopted by John Dunlap, who printed the Declaration 
 for Congress — this printed copy being inserted in the original Journal of 
 the old Congress. The same paragraphs are also made by Jefferson, in the 
 original draught, preserved in the Department of State. The names of the 
 signers are here spelled as in the original. Tlie names of the states do not 
 appear in the original. The names of the signers of each .State are, however, 
 grouped together, except the name of Matthew Thornton, which follows 
 that of Oliver Wolcott. 
 
 A very full account of the circumstances immediately preceding the 
 Declaration and leading up to it, with special reference to the part taken by 
 Jefferson, is given in Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. i, chaps, iv and v. 
 
 Jt.ltr* «"ii- *<[>, ttv^ MUT'^t S . -i^-^isM^ft SiS^iClfSsJ' 1 
 
n 
 
 MKitn:.. 
 
 II 
 
 d, do in the 
 le authority of 
 p!e of these 
 (/ renounce all 
 nhjection to the 
 ^iritain and all 
 hereafter claim 
 •tiller them ; we 
 II political con- 
 nay heretofore 
 etween us and 
 lament of Great 
 tally we do as- 
 hese Colonies to 
 k-ndent States,"] 
 
 and indcpen- 
 ley have full 
 war, conclude 
 
 alliances, es- 
 :;e, and to do 
 d things which 
 ;ates may of 
 
 : support of 
 , we mutually 
 )ther our lives, 
 id our sacred 
 
 ;, sjpied at Phil- 
 It IS not divided 
 nt of paragraphs 
 1 the Declaration 
 iginal Journal of 
 •Jefferson, in the 
 'he names of the 
 :he states do not 
 ate are, however, 
 1, which follows 
 
 :ly preceding the 
 he part taken by 
 chaps, iv and v. 
 
 The discussion of the authorship of the Declaration, in the latter chapter, 
 is |)artic'.iarly interesting and valuable. The following letter from Jefferson 
 to Madison ( August 30. 1S25), which was drawn out by a very careless and 
 faulty statement of the circtimstances by John Adams, is undoubtedly the 
 correct and sulficient word upon this subject : 
 
 " MoNi'icKi.U), August 30, i8:!3. 
 Dear Sik,— I received the enclosed letters from the I'residcnl, with 
 a re(|uest, that after perusal I would forward them to you, for perusal by 
 yourself also, and to be returned then to him. You have doubtless seen 
 Timothy Pickerings' fourth of July observations on the Declaration of 
 Independence. If his principles and prejud'ces, personal and political, 
 gave us no reason to doubt whether he had truly riuoted tlie information he 
 alleges to have- received from Mr. Adams, I should then say, that in some 
 of the particulars, Mr. Adams' memory ha.» led h:ni into unquestionable 
 error. At the age of eighty- ei.niht, and forty-seven years after the transactions 
 of Independence, this is not wonderful. Nor should I, at the age of eighty, 
 o\ the small advantage of that difference only, venture to oppose my memory 
 to his, were it not supported by written notes, taken by myself at the 
 mimeut and on the spot. He says, 'the committee of five, to wit, Dr. 
 Franklin, Sherman, Livingston, and ourselves, met, discussed the subject, 
 and then appointed him and myself to make the draught; that we, as a sut)- 
 committee, met, and after the urgencies of each on the other, I consented to 
 undertake the task ; that the draught being made, we, the sul>committee, 
 met, and conned the paper over, and he docH not remember that he made or 
 suggested a single alteration." Now these det.-iils are cjuite incorrect. The 
 committee of five met; no such thing as a sid'-committee was proposed, 
 but they unanimously pressed on myself alone to undertake the draught. 
 I consented; 1 drew it; but before I reported it to the committee, I com- 
 municated it separably to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Ad.ims, requesting their 
 corrections, because they were the two members of whose judgments and 
 amendments I wished most to have the benefit, before presenting it to the 
 committee; and you have seen the original paper now in my h^nds, with 
 the corrections of Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams interlined in their own 
 hand writings. Their alterations were two or three only, .md merely verbal. 
 I then wrote a fair copy, reported it to the committee, and from them, 
 unaltered, to Congress. This personal communication and consultation 
 with Mr. Adams, he has misremembered into the actings of a sub-committee. 
 Pickering's observations, and Mr. Adams' in addition, ' that it contaiiied 
 no new ideas, 'hat it is a common-place cc.npilation, its sentiments hacknied 
 in Congress for two years before, and its essence contained in Otis' pam- 
 l)hlet,' may .all be true. Oi that I am not to be the judge. Richard Henry 
 Lee ch.arged it as copied from Locke's treatise on government. Otis' pam- 
 phlet I never saw, and whether I had gathered my ideas from reading or 
 reflection I do not know. I know only that I turned to neither book nor 
 pamphlet while writing it. I did not consider it as any part of mv charge 
 to invent new ideas .altogether, and to offer no sentiment which had ever 
 been expressed before. Had Mr. Adams been so restrained, Congress 
 would iiave lost the benefit of his bold and impressive advocations of the 
 r^ijhts of Revolution. For no man's confident and fervid addresses, more 
 than Mr. Adams', encouraged and supported us through the difiicultles 
 surrounding us, which, like the ceaseless action of gravity, weighed on us 
 by night and by d.ay. Yet, on the same gr-umd, we may ask what of these 
 elevated thoughts was new ; or can be afllrmed never before to have entered 
 the conceiitions of man ? Whether, also, the sentiments of Indeiiendence, 
 and the reasons for declaring it, which make so great a portion of the in- 
 
 - ^yj!^gH#i?o!ff-''-" 
 
12 
 
 •trument, had been hackneyed in Conprcsn for two years before the 4th of 
 [uly, '7*'. <"■ ''"'^ diLliiin also of Mr. A. lams bo another .shp ot mv.in<iry, let 
 listory say. This, howt.ver, I will say tor Mr. Adams, that he supiiorted 
 :hc Decl.ritioii with /ral and ahilily, finluinn fearlessly for evory word of it. 
 
 I 
 
 the ,.,... 
 
 As to myself, I lhnii)ir|it it a duty to be, on that otcasion, a passive auditor 
 of the opinions of otheis, ntor'o impartial jndges than I conid l)e, of its 
 merits or demerits. During the debate I was oitting by Dorlor l-ranklin. 
 •ind he ob.served that I was writhing a little under the arnmntiious entiiisms 
 on some of its parts; and it wa< on that excision, that by wav of loniforl, 
 he ti)ld me the story of John Tiompsim, the hatter, and his new si^n. 
 Timothy thinks the instrument the belter tor having a fourth of it expunged. 
 .le would have thouuht it still better, had the other three-fourths cone out 
 also, all but the Single senliment (the only one he approves), whieh recom- 
 mends friendsliip to his dear Kn),dand, whenever she is willing to be at 
 peace with us. His in inimtions are, that althoiinh 'the high t(me of the 
 instrument was in unison with the warm feelings of the times, this sentiment 
 of habitual friendship to England should never be forgotten, and that the 
 duties it enjoins should fspfiuiltv be borne in mind on every celebration of 
 this anniversary.' In other words, that the Declaration, as being a libel on 
 the government of I'jigland, composed in times of passion, should now be 
 buried in utter oblivion, to spare the feelings of our Knglish friends :'nd 
 Angloman fellow-citizens. Hut it is not to wound them that we wish to 
 keep it in mind ; but to cherish the principles ot the instrument in the 
 l)osoms of our own citizens: and it is a heavenly comfort to see that these 
 principles are yet so strongly felt, as to render a circumstance so trifling as 
 this little lapse of niemoiy of Mr. Adams', worthy of being solemnly an- 
 nounced and supported at an anniversary assembl ige of the nation on its 
 birthday. In oppo.silion, however, lo Mr. I'ickeriiig, I praydoil that these 
 principles rav be eternal, and close the i>rayer with my affectionate wishes 
 for yourself of long life, health and iiappmess." 
 
 A somewhat famous charge of want of originality, wliii.li Ims been 
 brought against the Ueclaration of Independence, may here be noticed. A 
 papor, styled 
 
 The MECKLENBURti DECLAKArioN or Independence, 
 
 said to have been adopted by the Committee cf Mecklenburg county. North 
 Carolina, May 20, 1775, the day after the receipt of the news of the battle 
 of Lexington, was first published in the Kaleigh (N. C.) Register, April 30, 
 1S19. It was as follows, the phrases coinciding with those of the National 
 Declaration being printed in italics : 
 
 " I. Kesotvui, That whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, or in any 
 way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered and dangerous in- 
 vasion of our rights, as claimed by (Ircat Britain, is an enemy to this Country 
 to America — .and to the inherent and inalienaMe righls of man. 
 
 2. A'esa/ved, That we the citizens of Mecklenburg County, do hereby 
 dissolve the political hands which have eo-ineeted Vif, to the Mother Country, 
 and \i^\Qb^ absolve ourselves //vw all alUxiance to the Piitish Crojon, and 
 abjure all political connection, contract, or association, with that Nation, who 
 iiave wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties — and inhumanly shed 
 the innocent blood of American patriots at Lexington. 
 
 3. Resolved, That we do hereby de':lare ourselves a free and independ- 
 ent people, arc, and 0/ ri-^ht ou^ht ic be, a sovereign and self-governing 
 Association, under the control of no power other than that of our God and 
 
 i 
 
lefore the 4th of 
 lit mv-iiiory, let 
 at lie Hupuorted 
 jvory woicl (if it. 
 passive au'litor 
 could 1)0, of itH 
 )()rlor Krankliii, 
 iitiious critirisms 
 wav of i:omfiiil, 
 d hin new si^n. 
 1 of it expunged, 
 ourtlis Boiiu out 
 1), wlikii recom- 
 willing to l)e at 
 iij{l^ tone of the 
 s, this "entiment 
 en, and tliat the 
 •y cclel)ratinn of 
 lieing a libel on 
 , should now he 
 ;lish friends :'nd 
 that we wish to 
 )Htruinent in the 
 o see that tiicse 
 nee so trilling as 
 ing solemnly an- 
 hc nation on its 
 y' (ioil that these 
 fectionate wishes 
 
 wliicli iiits been 
 5 l)e noticed. A 
 
 DENCE, 
 
 rg county, North 
 
 L'ws of the battle 
 
 egister, April 30, 
 
 of the National 
 
 betted, or in any 
 id dangerous in- 
 IV to this Country 
 of man. 
 
 junty, do hereby 
 Mother Country, 
 itish Crmvn, and 
 that Nation, who 
 1 inhumanly shed 
 
 'ree and independ- 
 iid self-governing 
 t of our God and 
 
 13 
 
 the r.eneral Oovernmcnt of the ConKress; to the maintenance of ^hjch in- 
 depemkme. wc solemnly pied,. U. .,.A M,,; our mutual ccHipera.K.n, our 
 iives, our /i" lull, s. Olid our miMl s,cied hoiioi- „,i ,.,>„,r,>l 
 
 A A', >,. f J. 'I'hat as we r.ow acknowledge the existence and control 
 of no1aw . r k,;aVotticer, civil or nilitary. witlf this County we <lo hereby 
 o . ain an<l adopt, as a rule of lif. , all, each and every of our '"nne 1. ws - 
 wherein, nevertheless, the Crown -f (/.reat Hritain never can be cnsulered 
 U holding riglns, privileges, immunities, or anJiority tliei« in. 
 
 i h\ vv/-r / That it is also further decreed, that all, each and every 
 
 milita?;- oflccn this County, is hereby reinstated to his foinu r . nmmand 
 
 S "^hrllh , he acting cnforniably to these ^^^f'-^^'^^^^^^ '^^'l 
 
 member nresent of this delegation shall henceforth be a uvil ollnir, vu. a 
 
 us ice oAhe I'eace, in the character of a ' Comm,H.e-,i,.,„,' to issue itocc^ss. 
 
 h^ar and dee -mine' all matters of controversy, accord ng V> 7!"' ;'; "l''^^ 
 
 aws ud to Pieservc peace, an.l union, and harmony, m said Countv, and 
 
 ouieeverv exertion to spread the love of countr;y an.l five of freedom 
 
 !hr. ugh'mt-\merica, until a more general and org.nfied government be es- 
 
 '"""lii'l.rltlTc^p^of'Ihe alleged Mecklenbun? Declaration of Indepe.Kl- 
 ence hi^s l vcn to M,e public foitv-fonr y.ars after the event, was accom- 
 nani;.! l^a^ is ..i"al stitement purporting to have been written at the time; 
 and I ese t y, much controversy arising, this statc-inent was subst.mtiany 
 conlilmod by the afti.lavits of .Aany o\l citizens of Mecklenburg who re- 
 
 "'^■"'^•r;!,::'ls\r,SS"' wrote John Adam, to JcH-sot, (J.me ... tStp). 
 " that this paper should have been concealed from me to this d.u ? 1 latl it 
 been conn un cated to me in the time of it, I know, if you do not know, tha 
 
 Uwould have been printed in every -''iKZ-rP^^P^^XThe l.'irorCongrtTs 
 know that if I had possessed it, I would have made the I all ot i on(,rtss 
 e ho and eecho with it fifteen months before your Declaration of I"< c-pc"d- 
 ence What a pooi, ignorant, malicious, short-sighted, crapulous n ass is 
 Tom fame's 't'omnum Sense ' in compari.son with this rapcr. tiaa I 
 kno^n it, I would have commented upon it from the '"^'V >"" '^"1'='^'' *-,""; 
 gresTIill the fourth of July, .776- /Ihc genuine sense of America at that 
 moment was never so well expressed before or since. 
 
 "•""Teffer^^ 'n-s interesting rlply (July 9, .S.9.) may be found m the comp e 
 edition of 'TtlTtrsou's Works, vol. vii. 1). 128, in Randall s l.ile vj J.JP s"''> 
 vol iU, P 57f(ap,)endix No. 2, on the Mecklenburg Declaration ■>, liule- 
 nende ce) and elsewhere. 1 le was an " unbeliever m the apocryphal gospel, 
 Eeievedthepapc a fabricate "until positive and «"1«^";" l""°f "',' onld 
 thenticitv be produced," and made it plain that the allege.l '1?^';^'^^""'" ^""^.J 
 not h ive been known to himself or to anv influential person m the North, in 
 ?776 As to the question of " plat^iari^ "on Jeffers..n's part, over which 
 much controvesy arose, a little exan.u.uon would have shown that it was 
 R^ard lenry /.ee. and not Jefferson, who was really rcspons.be for the 
 intrStiono/ almost all the 'controverted phrases into the 
 Indenendence. The committee charged with the preparation of the I )eclara- 
 tion had been instructed to draw it in conformity with the resolu. on passed 
 by Confiress on he 2d of July. .770. which resolut on. penned by Richa d 
 rienry Lee, was as follows: " A'«^/tr</, That these United Colonics „;v, ,, W 
 ofrUhtouM to bt, free and independent States : that they are absolved from 
 Zu Xiuc the liritish Crmin ; and that all pol.tical connection between 
 them and the state of Great Britain is, and of right onght to_ he dissolved" 
 The pledge of "our lives and fortunes" occurs constantly m the political 
 literature of 1775 and 1776, and was one of the commonplaces of the t.me. 
 
14 
 
 In 1S3.S, Mr. I'l'tcr Force, the editor of the Amfriciiii Arihii'tt, brought 
 tn light \\\\M most SI hcilars) have since regarded as the solution of the uiatlcr, 
 vi/., a Heries of resolutions adopted l)y "the Committee-men " ol Mecklun- 
 burg County im the yst of May, 17751 """l widely disseminated at the time 
 both in sDuiliern and northern newspapers. These resolutions (niven in 
 Kandall's ap|)en(lix, and in (liaham's and Wellin^'s iu|)ers, referred to be- 
 low) were a virtu.d dtu:lardti(in of independence, but (lilfired essentially from 
 the declaration alleged to h;ive been drawn up eleven days previously. 
 There may have be^n a meeting on the earlier day, and certain icsolution« 
 may then have been passed; but they were probably not in the terms of the 
 
 f)aper which was given to the piil)lic in iSk) and which, wlieiuver coinpilcil 
 )y its author, was doubtless comiiled not with the aid of any written 
 records, but from general recollections, as we know to have been tlie case in 
 another version, which a|)i)earcd subsequently, A very thorough and search- 
 ing art. cle by James (.'.. Welling, takiig this position, which i-i also the position 
 of^Mr. Randall, aopeared in the North American Review for April, 1874. 
 The aiilhenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration is ablv defended by lion. 
 William A. Crahain, in an address (lelivered at Charlotte, N. C., February 
 4, 1S75, and since published in book form. This address considers Mr. 
 Wclling's article and all the previous important literature on the subject. 
 
 " When your lordships look at the papers trangmittcd us from Amer- 
 ica, when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you cannot but 
 respect their -ause, and wish to make it your own. For myself, 1 must 
 declare and av >v\', that in all my reading and observation — and it has been 
 my favorite s'')dy — 1 h.ive read Thucydidts and have stiulied and admired 
 the master states of the world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of sa- 
 g.»city, and wisdom of conclusion, under such a coniplicalion of difficult 
 circumstances, no nation or body cf men can stand in preference to the 
 general congress at Philadelphia. I trust it is obvious to vour lordships 
 that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to establish despotism 
 over sucli a mighty, continental nation, must be vain, must be fatal. We 
 shall be forced ultimately to retr.ict. Let us retract while we can, not when 
 we must. Avoid this humiliating, disgraceful necessity. With a dignity 
 becoming your e.xalted situation, make the first advances to concord, to 
 
 fieace, and happiness ; for that is your true dignity, to act with prudence and 
 ustice. That yon should first concede is obvious from sound and rational 
 policy. Concession comes with better grace and more salutary clloct from 
 superior power. It reconciles superiority of jjo'.ver with the f- slings of men, 
 and establishes solid confidence on the foundations of affci m and grati- 
 tude. Every motive of justice and of policy, of dignity and of prudence, 
 urges you to allay the ferment in America, by a removal of your troii])s from 
 Boston, by a repeal of your acts of parliament, and by ((emonstiation of 
 amicable dispositions towards your colonies. On the other hand, every 
 danger and every hazard impend to deter you from perseverance in your 
 present ruinous measures. " — Lord Cliatliavi. 
 
 \ A 
 
 *' Whatever might be the importance of American independence in the 
 history of Kngland, it was of unequalled moment in the history of the world. 
 If it crippled for a while the supremacy of the English nation, it foundetj 
 the supremacy of the English race. From the hour of American Independ 
 
 vfc^'iT ^i .jvi'itjSBiii i rijJr 
 
 st a yTn' i ^iwriiiw 
 
 
 II 
 
A! 
 -1 
 
 rthivts, brought 
 )n (if tho matter, 
 1 " ol iMi'ckliMi- 
 iIcmI at the time 
 
 itiolH (^IVC'II ill 
 
 rofcrrod to l)e- 
 CHHciittally from 
 ays pruvKiimly. 
 t.iin icsolutioiis 
 he It'rtTH of the 
 liner com|illed 
 of any written 
 lecn the case in 
 iigh anil scarch- 
 itlso the position 
 for April, 1S74. 
 fendetl l>y Hon. 
 i. ('., l''ei)riiary 
 
 considers Mr. 
 
 the subject. 
 
 us from Amer- 
 yon cuniiot hut 
 myself, I must 
 ind it has iicen 
 ;d and admired 
 n),;, force of sa- 
 lion of difficult 
 ufercnce to the 
 your lordships 
 blish despotism 
 be fatal. We 
 ; can, not when 
 With a dignity 
 to concord, to 
 :h prudence and 
 lid and rational 
 tary clfoct from 
 F" slings of men, 
 L in and grati- 
 d of prudence, 
 our troops from 
 Miionstration of 
 her hand, every 
 xrance in your 
 
 pendencc in the 
 >ry of the world, 
 tion, it foundecj 
 rican Iiidepend 
 
 ence the life of the English People has flowed not in one current, but In 
 
 two ; and while the older h is shown little signs of lessening, the younger 
 has fast risen to a greatness which has changed the face of the world. In 
 17.S) Aiiari-;a w.is a nation of threo millions of iiilialiitaiits, scallcrcd thinly 
 along the coast of tho Atlantic Ocean. It is now a nation oi foitv tnillions, 
 stretching over the whole continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In 
 wealth and ni.iterial energy, as in numbers, it f.ir surpa-sc^ the mother- 
 country from which it sprang. It is already the m lin jiraiich ol llic I'lnglish 
 People; and in thi! davs that are at hand the main cnrreiit of that |)eople'» 
 history must run along the 1 haiinel not of the Thames <m the Mersey, but 
 of the Hudson and the Missi^-ippi. Hut di^^tiiict as tlie.sc currrents arc, 
 every year proves more clearly that in spirit the Knglisli People is one. Th*! 
 dUtanie that piirted Kngland from America lessens every day. The ties 
 that unite them grow every d.iy stnniger. Tho social and political differ- 
 ences that threatened a himdied years ago to form an impassable barrier 
 between them '..row every d.iy less. .Against this silent and inevitable drift 
 of things the .spirit of narrow isolation on either side of the Atlantic strug- 
 gles in vain. It is possible that the two branches of the lai.^Ush People will 
 remain for ever separate political existences. !t is likely enough tli.-it the 
 older of them m.iy again break in twain, and that the ICnglish People in the 
 Pacific may a.ssert as distinct a national life as the two I'.nglisli Peoples on 
 either side'the Atlantic. Hut the spirit, the intbience, of all these branches 
 will remain one. And in thus remaining one, before half a centu.y is over 
 it will change the face of the world. As two hnmlred millions of Kiiglish- 
 men fill the valley of the Mi.ssissippi, as fifty millions of I'aiglislimeii a.ssert 
 their lordship ovjr Australasia, this vast power will tell throegh Britain im 
 the old world of Kurope, whose nations will have shrunk int) iii-^i.uniticance 
 before it. What the issues of such a world-witle change may be, not even 
 the wildest dreamer would dare to dream, lint one issue ^s inevitable. In 
 the centuries that lie before ns, the primacy of the worltl ill lie with ■.uc 
 English People. English institutions, English speech, I'.nglish thought will 
 become the in..;i, features of the iiolitical, the social, and th..- h.tHllH.t.i I lifp 
 of mankind." — 7'///' Kirhurd Green. See chapter on the Independence of 
 America, in his History of the English People. 
 
 •.'^I^HSI^wi 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED SIATE.S. 
 
 With Bibliographical and Historical' Notes and Outlines for Study. 
 
 PllEl'ARKn BY EuwiN D. Mkad. 
 
 This Manual is published by the Directors of the Old South Studies In 
 History and Politics, for the use' of schools and of such clubs, cla.sses and 
 individual students as may wish to make a careful study of the t.'onstitntion 
 and its history. The societies of young men and women now happily being 
 organized evc'rvwhere in America for historical and political study can do 
 nothing better 'to begin with than to make them.selves thoroughly familiar 
 with the Constitution. It is especially with such soci-'ties in view that the 
 table of topics for study, which follows the very full bibliogra|>hical notes in 
 this manual, has been prepared. A copy of the manual will be sent to any 
 addiess on receipt of twenty-five cents; one hundred copies, hftcen dollars. 
 Address Directors of Old South Stw/ies, Old South Meetins House, or D. 
 C, Heath &' Co.,S Somerset street, Boston. 
 
i6 
 
 OLD SOUTH l.KAFLETS, GKNERAL SERIKS. 
 
 Thf Old South Leaflets, which have been published, during the last 
 seven years, in connection with the annual courses of historical lectures at 
 the Old South Meeting House, have attracted so much attention and proved 
 of so much service, that the Directors have arranged for the publication of 
 a. general series of Leaflets with the needs of schools, colleges, private clubs 
 and classes especially in mind. These Leaflets are largely reproductions of 
 imjortant original papers, accompanied by useful historical and bibliographi- 
 cal notes. They consist, on an average, of sixteen pages, and are sold at 
 the low price of five cents a copy or three dollars per hundred. The aim 
 is to bring them within easy reach of everybody. The Old South work is a 
 work for the education of the people, especially the education of young 
 people, in American history and politics, and its promoters believe that 
 few things can contribute better to this end than the wide circulation of 
 such leaflets as those now proposed. It is hoped that professors in our 
 colleges and teachers everywhere will welcome them for use in their 
 classes, and that they may meet the needs of the societies of young men 
 and women now happily being organized in so many places for historical and 
 political studies. Some idea of the character of this series may be gained 
 from the following list of the subjects of the first sixteen numbers, which are 
 now ready ; 
 
 No. I. The Constitution of the United States. 2. The ."Xrticles of Con- 
 federation. 3. The Declaration of Independence. 4. Washington's Fare- 
 well Address. 5. Magna Charta. 6. Vane's " Healing Question." 7. 
 Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629. 8. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 
 1638. 9. Franklin's Plan of Union, 1754. 10. Washington's Inaugurals. 11. 
 Lincoln's Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation. 12. The Federalist, 
 Nos. I and 2. 13. The Ordinance of 1787. 14. The Constitution of Ohio* 
 15. Washington's Letter to the Governors of the States, 1783. i6. Wash- 
 ington's Letter to Benjamin Harrison, 1784. 
 
 * Double number, price ten cents. 
 
 i \ 
 
 S'J^^'*'^^ *^"tfnr>t^T^* 
 
lERIKS. 
 
 5d, during the last 
 storical lectures at 
 tention and proved 
 the publication of 
 eges, private clubs 
 y rej)roductions of 
 il and bibliographi- 
 •s, and are sold at 
 undred. The aim 
 Id South work is a 
 Jucation of young 
 loters believe that 
 'ide circulation of 
 professors in our 
 for use in their 
 ties of young men 
 s for historical and 
 ries may Ije gained 
 umbers, which are 
 
 le Articles of Con- 
 ashington's Fare- 
 ? Question." 7. 
 ■rs of Connecticut, 
 s Inaugurals, u. 
 The Federalist, 
 titution of Ohio.* 
 783. 16. Wasli- 
 
 SEVENTH SERIES, iS8g. No. 8. 
 
 Declaration 
 
 of the 
 
 Rights of Men. 
 
 liV THK N.VTIOV.VL A.S.SEMBLY OF FRANCE, 
 AUGUST 27, 1789. 
 
 The representatives of the French people, formed into a 
 National Assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness, or 
 contempt of the Rights of Men are the sole causes of public 
 grievances, and of the corruption of government, have resolved 
 to exhibit in a solemn declaration the natural, unalienable, and 
 sacred Rights of .Man, in order that this declaration, ever pres- 
 ent to all the members of the Social Body, may incessantly 
 remind them of their rights and of their duties ; to the end, 
 that the acts of the Legislative Power and those of the Execu- 
 tive Power, being able to be every moment compared with the 
 end of all political institutions, may acquire the more respect ; 
 in order also, that the remonstrances of the citizens fn-'ided 
 henceforward on t^iinple and incontestible pn-iciples, may ever 
 tend to maintain the Constitution, and to promote the general 
 good. 
 
 For this reason, the National 4ot^;.,oly recognises, and 
 declares, in the presence of and under the auspices of the 
 Supreme Heing, the following Rights of Men and Citizens : 
 
 1. Men were born, and always continue, free and equal in 
 respect to their rights ; civil distinctions, therefore, can be 
 founded only on pulDlic utility. 
 
 2. The end of all political associations is the preservation 
 of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man ; and these 
 rights are liberty, property, security, and the resistance of 
 oppression. 
 
 3. The nation is essentiady the source of all sovereignty ; 
 
 
nor can any individual, or any body of men, be entitled to any 
 authority which is not expressly derived from it. 
 
 4. Political liberty consists in the power of doing whatever 
 does not injure another. The exercise of the natural rights of 
 every man has no other limits th.^n those which are necessary to 
 secure to every other man the free exercise of the same rights ; 
 and these limits are determinable alone by the law. 
 
 5. The law ought only to piohibit actions hurtful to society. 
 What is not prohibited by the law should not be hinde-""'^. ; nor 
 should any one be compelled to that which the law does not 
 require. 
 
 6. The law is an expression of the will of the community. 
 All citizens have a right to concur, either personally or by their 
 representatives, in its formation. It should be the same to all, 
 whether it protects or punishes ; and all being equal in its sight, 
 are equally eligible to honours, places, and employments, 
 according to their different abilities, without any other distinc- 
 tion than that created by their virtues and talents. 
 
 7. No man should be accused, arrested, or held in con- 
 finement, except in cases determined by the law, and according 
 to the forms which it has prescribed. All who promote, solicit, 
 execute, or cause to be executed, arbitrary orders, ought to be 
 punished; and every citizen called upon or apprehended by 
 virtue of the law ought immediately to obey, and he renders 
 himself culpable by resistance. 
 
 8. The law ought to impose no other penalties than such 
 as are absolutely and evidently necessary ; and no one ought 
 to be punished but in virtue of a law promulgated before the 
 offence, and legally applied. 
 
 9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been 
 convicted, whenever his detention becomes indispensable, all 
 rigour to him, more than is necessary to secure his person, 
 ought to be provided against by the law. 
 
 10. No man ought to be molested on account of his opin- 
 ions, not even on account of his religious opinions, provided his 
 avowal of them does not disturb the public order csiablished by 
 the law. 
 
 ir. 
 
 The unrestrained communication of thoughts and opin- 
 ions being one of the most precious rights of man, every citizen 
 may speak, write, and publish freely, provided he is responsib' t 
 for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law. 
 
 12. A public force being necessary vo give security to the 
 righte of men and citizens, that force is instituted for the benefit 
 

 )e entitled to any 
 It. 
 
 af doing whatever 
 natural rights of 
 h are necessary to 
 ■ the same rights ; 
 ; law. 
 
 hurtful to society, 
 be hinde'-p'^. ; nor 
 the law does not 
 
 if the community. 
 ;onally or by their 
 )e the same to all, 
 
 equal in its sight, 
 nd employments, 
 any other distinc- 
 nts. 
 
 , or held in con- 
 iw, and according 
 promote, solicit, 
 rders, ought to be 
 
 apprehended by 
 and he renders 
 
 lalties than such 
 nd no one ought 
 gated before the 
 
 ntil he has been 
 ndispensable, all 
 jcure his person, 
 
 3unt of his opin- 
 ons, provided his 
 er established by 
 
 oughts and opin- 
 lan, every citizen 
 he is responsib' - 
 d by the law, 
 '6 security to the 
 ;d for the benefit 
 
 i- i^i-i 
 
i 
 
1