HISTORICAL REGISTER OF THE UNITED STATES. PART I. FROM THE DECLARATION OF WAR IN 1812, TO JANUARY 1, 1814. EDITED BY T. H. PALMER. VOL. I. mn SECOND EDITION. PHILADELPHIA, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY G. PALMER, NO. 201, CHESNUT STREET. 1814. PREFACE. IT has long been a subject of surprise and regret, that among the many valuable periodical publications in the United States, no one should have been devoted to the preservation of an authentic and complete collection of American state papers and official records. Several weekly and other publications, it is true, have professed to devote a portion of their columns for this purpose; but the mass of extraneous matter with which these valuable documents are mingled, in publications of this nature, is such as to render it a work of labour to refer to them; and from their being generally conducted by violent partizans, they lose much of their authority and usefulness. The official documents in works of this kind too, are generally incomplete, and are seldom, if ever, derived from authentic sources, but merely copied from newspapers, which, from the hurry and carelessness with which they are conducted, are liable to numerous omissions and the most gross blunders. To supply this deficiency is the principal object of the present publication. For this purpose, it is intended to publish two volumes annually, the first of which will be devoted chiefly to legislative proceedings, and notices of internal improvements, and of the progress |