the orator of the day puts the best foot foremost; he is to the virtues of his heroes very kind, and to their shortcomings not a little blind; but history cannot be written in this way. Here, a battle, as it were, is to be fought on a conflicting stage; good and evil are to come into collision, and the event to be recorded is a painful birth out of opposing elements, the result, in this case, of the superiority of virtue, heroism, intelligence, over weakness, irresolution, and, in some instances, treason. Let the reader remember these essential conditions of the work,—the guiding principle of the national welfare we have alluded to, founded deep in old English religion and liberty, and the peculiar elements of the struggle of the Revolution, and he will appreciate the main efforts of the work before us. In addition he must reflect, to take it at its full height, upon the varying scenery, so to speak, drawing a train of corresponding diverse interests. The action is in both the old world and the new-in the present volume even, introducing the counsels of European cabinets from St. Petersburgh to London; and, on our own hemisphere, from Canada to Jamaica. Mr. Bancroft, as usual, holds the reins of these contemporary events with consummate skill, guiding his war-chariot with a master's art, as he directs the thronged and wayward coursers to the ultimate goal. readers for this volume of the history than for any of its predecessors. The style of the volume is that of the author's accustomed narrative; broken, direct, vigorous— consulting force rather than elegance. In the use of words, there is generally little to notice beyond the prevalence of good Saxon. In one or two instances, out-of-the-way expressions will send the reader to his Johnson or Worcester, where he will find established authority for what he may have thought a neologism. Thus the term "roytelets" is applied to the petty sovereigns of Brunswick and Hesse Cassel, from whom troops were hired—an unfamiliar diminutive from the French, which in former times was bestowed by King Charles I.'s chaplain Heylin (apud Johnson), upon the Indian kings of America. Then we have the old English archery word "fletched" applied to a message from Congress, in 1775, to the Irish Parliament-" they fletched their complaint by adding, ‘America loved his brother' " in allusion to Lord Howe: that is, they feathered their arrow. The word "betrust," in reference to Morgan-" an instinctive perception of character assisted him in choosing among his companions those whom it was wise to betrust,"—is also used with nicety and accuracy. The notes and references, which were rather abundant in the earlier volumes of the history, during the colonial period, are, as in the last The special work of this volume embraces the volume, omitted. The author then gave as a organization of the army of Washington and the reason, the space they would occupy in a necescorresponding formation and mustering of the sarily "disproportionate commentary;" but we British forces, particularly of the troops hired may regret their absence as a serious loss to hisfrom the continent; the siege and delivery of torical inquiry. We are in no doubt of Mr. BanBoston; the stirring movements in Canada led croft's thorough research, or the general justness by Montgomery and Arnold; the siege of Fort of his conclusions; but twenty or thirty addiMoultrie and other military incidents; Parlia- tional pages in notes would add much to our mentary action; but, above all, the Resolution of information and enjoyment, and afford many opIndependence. In all of this the author's accus-portunities for references not allowable in the tomed vigorous narrative is constantly reinforced text, while they would increase little the bulk of by original material drawn from the archives of the book. A good index to each volume, like foreign governments and historical and family that of the English edition of Macaulay, would documents at home. As usual with the preced-greatly facilitate the use of the work to the hising volumes, great force and personal interest are imparted by the sketches of character with which the work abounds, of which, among others, we would call the reader's attention to the notice of Charles Lee, in the opening chapter, of Lord George Germain among the English portraits, of Jefferson, in his early years, and especially to the elaborate analysis of John Adams, which is a masterpiece of shrewd characterization. If we were not quite certain that every reader of the Historical Magazine would be in possession of Mr. Bancroft's work, we should quote these few passages on Adams, who is a capital subject, as a specimen of the author's skill. But it is unnecessary as we may predict with confidence more torical reader, who is frequently compelled to pass rapidly from one author to another, and who needs every assistance by the way. This want might be readily inet in the future volumes and the reissue of the old. A novel and striking portrait of Jefferson, we should mention, is prefixed to the present volume, from the original picture by Brown, painted for John Adams in 1786. Major-general Israel Putnam. A correspondence on this subject with the editor of the Hartford Daily Post. By "Selah," of that city, and Henry B. Dawson of White Plains, N. Y. Morrisania: 1860. 8vo 169 pp. MR. DAWSON has issued a small edition of his MR. MUNSELL, of Albany, in announcing his controversy with Mr. A. C. Griswold of Hartford," Orderly Book of General Burgoyne's Campaign, A DESCRIPTION of the coins and medals in the cabinet collection at the mint of the United States, prepared by J. R. Snowden, director of the mint, is announced by Messrs. J. B. Lippincott & Co. in regard to the part taken by Putnam in the from the time the army assembled at Cumberland battle of Bunker Hill, and in regard to his servi- Head, 20th June, to its capitulation, 17th Oct., ces throughout the Revolutionary War, and his 1777," appeals to the Public Libraries, and gentlecharacter in general. The newspaper discussion men interested in American History, for patronage was sufficient to attract the attention of the legis-in bringing out his series of works. The appeal lature of the State in which it was conducted; will, we trust, not be unanswered. By subscriband, after one of the members had pronounced a ing at once, they will not only sustain the publecture on General Putnam, it took a decided part lisher in his not very remunerative task, but will in the controversy by a series of resolutions. We secure volumes which hereafter will prove diffineed not say, therefore, that much feeling has cult to find. been evoked by the controversy. As in nearly all such disputes, much personal acrimony enters, and immaterial issues are sometimes vigorously but uselessly argued. To express an opinion, as that of the Magazine, is injudicious; and while we consider Mr. Dawson as having in closeness of argument, extent of research, and critical weighing of testimony, evidently the advantage, we think that most Americans will adopt the clear, precise, and common-sense language of John Adams, as the simple solution of the question. "The army of Cambridge was not a national army, for there was no nation. It was not a United States army, for there were no United Colonies. . . . It was not a New England army, for New England had not associated.. Massachusetts had her army, Connecticut her army, New Hampshire her army, and Rhode Island her army. These four armies met at Cambridge, and imprisoned the British army in Boston. But who was the sovereign of this united, or rather congregated army, and who its commander-in-chief? It had none. "" Historical and Literary Intelligence. WE notice in our Canadian exchanges the appearance of the following works on the civil and natural history of that province: Langevin: "Notes sur les Archives de Notre Dame de Beauport, par M. Jean Langevin, prêtre. 12mo, 174 pp. Quebec: St. Michel et Darveau." Faillon: "L'Heroïne Chrétienne du Canada, ou vie de Mlle. Le Ber, 12mo. Montreal: J. Lovell." The author of the latter work is one of those who has contributed most to the history of Montreal. His lives of M. Olier, Sister Margaret Bourgeois, Mlle. Mance, and Mme. D'Youville, form almost a history of the religious establishment of that city. He has been long engaged on a history of Montreal, but his health has lately suffered to such an extent, that his recovery was despaired of. We are happy however to learn that it is now rapidly improving. THE last general convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, appointed a committee to contract for a reissue of their journals from 1785 to 1853, with a volume of elucidatory notes, legal and historical, by the Rev. Dr. Hawks and Rev. W. S. Perry, and a full index by the latter. These journals are so scarce that few if any of our public libraries possess a set. It has been proposed that the religious societies and the citizens of Seekonk and the seven towns of which the ancient Rehoboth has been the nursing mother, should hold a friendly, religious, and patriotic gathering at the original Congregational Church thereof, at Seekonk, on July 4th, 1860, at 10 A. M., for the purpose of commemorating the origin and historic scenes of the ancient Rehoboth (now Seekonk), and of passing in review the life and character of its original founder, and of paying respect to the ever-memorable birthday of our Common Country. THE papers of Gov. Daniel D. Tompkins have been placed in the hands of H. B. Dawson, Esq., by the fainily for the purpose of preparing a biography. Mr. Dawson will be thankful to parties possessed of material that may aid him, for any information addressed to him at Morrisania, New York. THE sale of John Frazer's library at Quebec was scarcely known here, and there was little competition from the United States. A copy of Sagard's "Histoire du Canada" brought only $38, the 1632 edition of Champlain $27, Lescarbot $30, Le Clercq, "Etablissement de la Foi," only $6, and his Gaspesie $4, and a complete copy of Creuxius $10.50. La Hontan however ran up to $12, far beyond its value when compared to the others, and considering how easily it can be had. Some of the old Jesuit Relations brought a mere trifle. THE HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. VOL. IV.] General Department. AUGUST, 1860. ONE OF THE MISSING NUMBERS OF "THE CRISIS." WHEN the numbers of "The Crisis" were collected, the editors failed to get copies of all, and some have hitherto eluded the search of investigators, so that no edition of "The Crisis," or of Paine's political works, contains the whole series. The following one is from the collection of the well-known Colonel Peter Force of Washington: THE CRISIS, NO -. [No. 8. tune, let us likewise learn it from mistake; and wisely add, for once, if we never do it again, the ardor of adversity to the strength of victory. Let us combine the glowing powers of resolute resistance with the tranquil advantages which conquest bestows; and render the present year as superior in system as the latter was splendid in success. The progress and revolution of our domestic circumstances are as extraordinary as the Revolution itself. We began with paper, and we end with gold and silver. We set out with parties, and we are approaching to unity. The strength, the property, and even the fashion of the country are considered in her support. Like robust and healthy youth, she hath shook off the agues of the winter, and steps forward with constitutional Casting my eye over a former publication (The bloom and vigor. By suffering distresses, she Crisis, No. 9) on the loss of Charlestown, I was hath learned both to bear and to prevent them; tempted to introduce this address, by a quotation and the experience of every day, whether drawn from the first paragraph of that number, as it ap-from good fortune or from bad, whether from peared to me exceedingly applicable to the present circumstances of the country. TO THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA. "Had America pursued her advantages with half the spirit she resisted her misfortunes, she would before now have been a conquering and a peaceful people; but lulled in the lap of soft tranquillity, she rested on her hopes, and adversity only could convulse her into action." wisdom or mistake, hath added something to her cause, and much to her judgment. From this general state of circumstances, I shall proceed to more particular matters. In my last publication I stated the yearly expense of the war, namely, eight millions of dollars; the nature of the union by which the States are bound together; and the propriety of keeping the taxes for the defence of the country separate from the expenses of government; the right of the people to be regularly informed of the moneys re This hath been the character of America in every part, and in every state and stage of the contest. Warmed by a love of liberty and provoked by a sense of injury, she encountered dan-ceived and expended; and the duty of the counger without fear and misfortune without despondency; but no sooner was the point accomplished than she returned with folded arms to rest, and seemed to wait with patience for new disasters. Yet there is one reflection to be drawn from this character and conduct that is worth attending to, which is, that it is the sign and natural effect of right principles, but not of right policy. Misfortune ever separates men in a bad cause, and unites them in a good one. The former are industrious only while they are prosperous, the latter while they are distressed. The one acts from impulse, the other from contrivance; and the whole mode and progress of their conduct, and their times of rest and action, are the reverse of each other. But as we have learned knowledge from misfor- 29 try to provide its several quotas. Government and the people do not in America constitute distinct bodies. They are one, and their interest the same. Members of Congress, meinbers of assembly, or council, or by any other name they may be called, are only a selected part of the people. They are the representatives of majesty, but not majesty itself. The dignity exists inherently in the universal multitude: and, though it may be delegated, cannot be alienated. Their estates and property are subject to the same taxation with those they represent, and there is nothing they can do, that will not equally affect themselves as well as others. If they call for supplies, they call on themselves in common with the country. Their situation enables them to know the more abatement, and their losses served to provoke them the higher; but experience has shown that the way to enrich a country, and render it syste secret circumstances of things, and that such or such revenues are necessary for the security and defence of their constituents, and the accomplishment of the great object for which they are cho-matically formidable, is to give every possible rest sen; and here the distinction ends. The furnishing ourselves with right ideas, and the accustoming ourselves to right habits of think- | ing, have a powerful effect in strengthening and cementing the mind of the country, and freeing it from the danger of partial or mistaken notions. It is not all the ardor which the love of liberty can inspire, nor the utmost fortitude which the most heroic virtue can create, that will of themselves make us successful conquerors. We must come down to order, system, and method, and go through the cool and judicious as well as the animating and elevated parts of patriotism. Method is to national power, what sleight is to human strength, without which a giant would lose his labor, and a country waste its force. At the commencement of the war much political wisdom was not absolutely necessary. The high spirit of the country in a great measure supplied its place, and the printing-presses furnished the means. They became our Peru and Mexico, and as we wanted we drew them forth. Any body of men might at that time have carried on the war, who had resolution enough to proceed; because the difficulties of finance were then unknown, and the money came created to their hands. But those times are changed; and there is now a call on the wisdom and judgment, as well as on the firmness and patriotism of the country. Our situation is such, that the more it is understood the better it will appear; and with the means in our power, we want nothing but the united disposition to employ them. When America resolved on independence, and determined to be free, she naturally included within that resolution all the means, whether of men or money, necessary to effect it. She had laid herself out for greater sufferings, and more expense and loss than she has hitherto experienced, except in Carolina and Georgia. The idea of getting rich had not in those days an existence. All she expected was to live, and all she hoped for was to be free. She had resolved to abandon her habitations, to desert her towns, and to form new settlements in the wilderness, rather than submit. There was no condition to which her imagination could extend that was not preferable to the oppressions that threatened her; and the experience of several years has shown her opinion just, and her resolution firm. Yet while the war was carried on by the mass of general opposition, the business of the country got deranged, agriculture, trade, and commerce became neglected, and something like poverty began to appear; yet their resolution suffered no to the inhabitants, that they may follow their various occupations undisturbed. A man who is harassed about, either by the inroads of the enemy, or by marching to oppose them, soon suffers more by loss of time and the neglect of his affairs, than what a portion of taxes sufficient for his defence would amount to. And therefore it is to the good of the whole, as well as to the interest of the individual, that every one who can, sits himself down to his business, and contributes his quota of taxes, as one of the first duties he owes to his family, to himself, and to his country. Every amusement ought to be dispensed with, every indulgence curtailed, and every possible economy practised, both public and private, until a revenue sufficient for the protection and good of the country is obtained, and the debt to public justice satisfied. I have no idea of that kind of policy which ends in expense, disappointment, and disgrace; and those have ever been and ever will be the consequence of deficient and unequal revenues. America has resolved to defend herself, and to support her independence at all hazards and events. Every man's portion of that charge becomes his debt of honor, interest, and happiness; and to see any one indulging himself at home, while that portion is unpaid, and the soldier who defends him suffering in the field, is the highest dishonor a man can undergo. It is a pity but some other word beside taxation had been devised for so noble and extraordinary an occasion, as the protection of liberty and the establishment of an independent world. We have given to a popular subject an unpopular name, and injured the service by a wrong assemblage of ideas. A man would be ashamed to be told that he signed a petition praying that he might pay less than his share of the public expense, or that those who had trusted the public might never receive their money; yet he does the same thing when he petitions against taxation, and the only difference is that by taking shelter under the name, he seems to conceal the meanness he would otherwise blush at. It is popular to pay our debts, to do justice, to defend an injured and insulted country, to protect the aged and the infant, and to give to liberty a land to live in; then must taxation, as the means by which these things are to be done, be popular likewise. But to take a more local view of matters. Why has the back country been ravaged by the repeated incursions of the enemy and the Indians, but from the inability of the revenue to provide means for their protection? and yet the inhabit of America would have ached with concern and sorrow, could she at all times have known what her exact situation has been. It is now the only point we have to attend to, nay, it is the only one that is worth attending to; for, let us accomplish this, and the rest will follow; and that consolation which every man's mind will feel at knowing that the public treasury is furnished with an ability of providing for the defence of the country, will amply recompense the difficulties he may go through, and the endeavors he may make in pay ants of those counties were among the first to The tax will be attended with some inconvepetition against taxation. In so doing they even-nience; but what is inconvenience, when comtually prayed for their own destruction, and, un-pared with distress, and the ruins and plunderhappily for them, their prayers were answered. ings of an enemy? How many things of far Their quota of taxes would have been trifling, greater inconvenience has America already undercompared with their losses and, what is still worse, gone, nay, even flourished in the midst of, which their domestic sorrows. Alas! how unwisely, she once thought impossible to be borne! I hold how unfeelingly does a man argue, when he puts taxation, which is to be applied to her own dethe safety of his family in competition with his tax. fence and her own good, one of the lightest of her There is so much of the honor, interest, and difficulties, when considered with those which independence of America staked upon taxation, were occasioned by the want of it. We have sevthat the subject must to every reflective mind eral times been on the crisis of destruction by the make a strong impression. As we are now cir-insufficiency of our public revenues, and the heart cumstanced, it is the criterion of public spirit; the touchstone of our good affections; and he who pays it the instant it is called for, does more for his country's good than the loudest talker in America. In vain are all our huzzas for liberty, without accompanying them with solid support. They will neither fill the soldier's belly, nor clothe his back; they will neither pay the public creditors, nor purchase our supplies. They are well enough in their place, and though they are the effusion of our hearts, they are no part of our substance. The assembly of this State (Pennsylvania) haveing in his allotted share. We shall be freed from unanimously gone through the bill for raising the sum of 1,120,000 dollars, being their quota for the year. And as an example worthy both of notice and imitation, the oppressed and distressed State of South Carolina, notwithstanding the severity of its fate, has already done the same. Those people know, by woful experience, the value of defence, and that the inconvenience of struggling with a tax for the protection of the country, is not to be named in competition with the losses they have borne, and the sorrows and sufferings they have undergone. ness. the just murmurs of the suffering soldier; our eyes and ears will be no longer shocked with tales of slighted faith and suspected credit; and the face of our public, and of consequence of our private affairs, will wear a new and a satisfied countenance. The idea that the country cannot bear it is a reproach upon her honor and firmness. She has borne ten times as much. Her fortitude and her principles have been tried in a thousand instances of severer fortune; and it is a paradox not to be explained, and which ought to be exploded, that the people whom no force or misforHowever inconvenient the tax may be, we tune could conquer, no temptation seduce, should, know it can last but for a time. Our expenses at the summit of success, trepan themselves into will cease with the war, and our taxation in con-destruction by an ignoble and impolitic covetoussequence. But while the war continues, and so great a part of every thing that is dear and valu- Let us be in every respect such a nation as we able to a country depends upon her revenue, I ought to be, and show to the enemy that it is no shall consider and treat taxation as a popular more in her power to conquer us by system than good. When the war shall be over, the case will by arms. The purse of America, with economy, be totally altered, and my language, if I then is longer than that of Britain, managed, as it is, speak at all, will be entirely different. Besides, by corruption and extravagance. The people of America is a new character in the Universe. She America are not a poor people; why should they started with a cause divinely right, and struck at appear so? We hurt our credit, our honor, our an object vast and valuable. Her reputation for reputation in the world, by proclaiming ourselves political integrity, perseverance, fortitude, and all what we are not, and give encouragement to the the manly excellences, stands high in the world, enemy to prolong the war, by holding out an idea and it would be a thousand pities, that, with of our want of money to carry it on. It is easy those happy introductions into life, she suffered to see by the complexion of the New York pathe least spot or blot to fall upon her moral fame.pers, that the present spirited exertions of the Never let it be said, that the country who could do what America has done, defrauded the widow and orphan of their property, and the soldier of his pay. country to keep her public treasury supplied, have wounded the last hopes of the enemy. It is a blow they never expected America to give, and their astonishment is as great as their despair. |