your petitioners discovered in its principles the remedy which they had so long and so earnestly desired. They embraced it with ardor, and have supported it with persevering attachment. They view with the highest satisfaction the prospects now opening and adorning this auspicious period. To your honorable body the mechanics and manufacturers of New York look up with confidence, convinced that, as the united voice of America has furnished you with the means, so your knowledge of the common wants has given you the spirit to unbind our fetters, and rescue our country from disgrace and ruin.”

A few days afterwards, another petition was presented from the inhabitants of Boston, of which the following is an extract:

"Your petitioners need not inform Congress that on the revival of our mechanical arts and manufactures depend the wealth and prosperity of the Northern States; nor can we forbear mentioning to your honors that the citizens of these states conceive the object of their independence but half obtained till those national purposes are established on a permanent and extensive basis by the legislative acts of the federal government. Unless these important branches are supported, we humbly conceive that our agriculture must greatly decline, as the impoverished state of our seaports will eventually lessen the demand for the produce of our lands.

"Your petitioners formerly experienced the patronage of this state legislature, in their act laying duties and prohibitions on certain articles of manufacture, which encourages your petitioners to request that heavy duties may be laid on such articles as are manufactured by our own citizens, humbly conceiving that the impost is not solely considered by Congress as an object of revenue, but, in its operation, intended to exclude such importations, and, ultimately, establish these several branches of manufacture among ourselves."

ANECDOTES OF EARLY LOCAL HISTORY."

THE Massachusetts Historical Society was founded in the year 1791. Its declared objects were the "preservation of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and records containing historical facts, biographical anecdotes, temporary projects, and beneficial speculations, conducing to mark the genius, delineate the manners, and trace the progress of society in the United States," and "the collection of observations and descriptions in natural history and topography, together with specimens of natural and artificial curiosities, and a selection of every thing which can improve and promote the historical knowledge of our country, either in a physical or political point of view." The number of resident members was at first limited to thirty; but it has since been extended to sixty. In 1794, the society received an act of incorporation from the legislature of the commonwealth.

In pursuance of the designs of its foundation, the society immediately applied itself to the collection of a library and of a cabinet of natural history, and of objects of art, illustrative of the history and antiquities of the country. For two years after the formation of the society, it held its meet

* A Lecture delivered before, the Massachusetts Historical Society on the 21st of October, 1833; now first published.

For a full and satisfactory account of the Historical Society, see the accurate memoir of Rev. Dr William Jenks, in the seventh volume of the third series of the Collections. See also, for much information on the history of the society, and a very instructive and eloquent commentary upon its labors and objects, a discourse on the semi-centennial anniversary of the incorporation, delivered by Mr John G. Palfrey, 31st October, 1844, Collections, Vol. IX. p. 165, Third Series.

ings in the office of Judge Minot, (one of its most active founders,) in Spring Lane, in Boston, and afterwards successively in an upper room in Faneuil Hall, and in an apartment of what was originally the "Factory," a large building, situated in what is now called Hamilton Place, and at that time in the occupation of the Massachusetts Bank. After the erection of Franklin Place, the upper hall over the archway was liberally placed at the disposal of the society, and there its library and collections were deposited, and its meetings held till the last year, when it obtained a permanent and much more eligible location in the second story of the building lately erected by the Savings Bank.

The library contains a collection, not very large, but of great value, of books, manuscripts, and newspapers. Very important materials, both for our early and revolutionary history, are to be found upon its shelves; and, during the period of forty years since it commenced its operations, it has unquestionably rescued from destruction no small portion of the valuable papers now in its possession. It is the ardent desire of the society to make it more and more a rich repository of authentic original materials for the history of the country; and it earnestly invites all those who have materials of that description in their hands to confide them to its care. In the archives of a public institution they are likely to escape many of the dangers to which private collections are exposed, and they may be rendered available to students of history far more conveniently than while they remain the property of individuals.

At the close of the revolutionary war, there was a strong impression upon the minds of many of the intelligent and public-spirited individuals of that day, that special efforts ought to be made to acquire and diffuse a knowledge of the natural history of the country, which had just been introduced as a new member into the family of nations. object was deemed so important by the elder President Adams, that he proposed, as an amendment to the draft of the constitution of the state, a section which, among other things, makes it the duty "of legislatures and magistrates, in

This

all future periods of this commonwealth," to encourage private societies and public institutions for the promotion of "agriculture, arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country." So much importance was attached to this amendment by President Adams, that, in a letter written in the latter part of his life, he expressed the wish that it might be placed upon his monument as an epitaph. It was no doubt in conformity with the same prevalent feeling, that the founders of the Historical Society, of whom President Adams was one, made provision for the department of natural history as one of the objects of the society. It was of course soon found, by experience, that there is no close connection between the political and the natural history of the country; and the latter branch of inquiry has not been cultivated by the members of the society as such.

In order to diffuse the knowledge of the materials collected for the history of the country, and to put them effectually beyond the reach of accident, the society, on its first establishment, commenced the publication of a monthly historical magazine, which, however, was soon changed, in its form, to that of a volume, appearing at irregular intervals, but averaging, from the commencement of the series, more than a volume every two years. Of this publication, twenty-three volumes have appeared.* Their contents are of a miscellaneous character,-historical, biographical, and topographical, - illustrative of the history, both of the aborigines and civilized inhabitants of the country, from the earliest periods to the present time. They contain a great amount and variety of materials of much value, and they are absolutely indispensable to the student of American history. I regret to add, that this unassuming and highly meritorious publication has received little or no patronage from the general reading community.

Among the members of the society, who have passed from

The thirtieth volume was published in the course of the past year, (1849.)

the stage, there are several who have, in separate publications, made important contributions to the history of the country. President Adams's Defence of the American Constitutions, published before the formation of the society, is one of the most important of the works connected with the political history of the United States. Governor Sullivan wrote a valuable History of Maine, and offered it to the public "as a testimonial of his ardent desire that the Historical Society" (of which he was an original member) "might fulfil the objects of its institution." Judge Minot published two interesting volumes of a continuation of the History of Massachusetts, the first of which appeared in 1798, the last not till after his decease in 1802. He also wrote a history of Shays' insurrection. Dr John Eliot, besides numerous contributions to the society's Collections, has left a permanent memorial of his researches in local history, in the Biographical Dictionary of New England. From the elegant pen of Mr William Tudor, the founder of the North American Review, we have a very valuable Life of James Otis, in addition to other productions of historical interest. But I presume that, among the deceased members of the society, who have distinguished themselves as writers of history, the first place will, by general consent, be awarded to Dr Jeremy Belknap, one of the most efficient of the founders of the society, its first secretary, and, for a long time, one of the most diligent contributors to its Collections. Besides the American Biography, and other smaller works, the History of New Hampshire, by this amiable, intelligent, and patriotic writer, is inferior to none of our local histories.

It would be, for obvious reasons of delicacy, improper to comment upon the works of living members of the society. I cannot, however, forbear to allude to the American Annals of the Rev. Dr Holmes, (of which the first edition appeared in 1805, and a second in 1829, and which had, in the interval, been reprinted in England;) to the edition of Winthrop's Journal, by Mr James Savage; of Morton's Memorial, by Judge Davis; of Prince's Chronology, by Mr Nathan Hale;