for a people suddenly emerging from the stress of poverty and war, as in the Revolution, into the possession of great and unexpected fortunes as followed in the succeeding years. Questions vital to the life of the nation involved in the war of 1812, and in the late war, have agitated even the most quiet students of the land. Questions of policy and finance involving the Louisiana purchase, with control of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and the war with Mexico, bringing its grand acquisition of territory, have stirred the whole people to a degree that allowed little time to consider the history they were making from month to month and year to year.

The form of our Government, too, has been detrimental to an early collection of historical records; the separate States have had a desire to retain all records relating to each one within its own borders, even while they were all more or less careless of the safety of the most important documents. The beginnings of the Government being located in the various colonies, the history of that early period is to be sought in many places. The result is that partial and incomplete histories of the establishment of the country have prevailed, and some colonies, as New York, have had scant justice in the histories of the nation. It may be said with some fairness that these colonies and states are in a measure at fault, as they have not furnished the material nor the encouragement to historians that would stimulate them to overcome the difficulties to be encountered. A thought of these difficulties leads us back to the general subject of archives.

The earliest literary effusions of the Anglo-Saxons, even while metrical in form, were historical in matter, and among their first efforts in prose was the Saxon Chronicle. This, like our own early history, was made piecemeal in the various counties and convents. In the reign of King Alfred,the Primate Plegmund appears to have conducted an official collection of the different parts. The frequency with which the Saxon Chronicle is quoted by historians proves its value. In the old era the professions of law and theology established official records of inestimable value. The ecclesiastical claim to make a record for every Christian of his baptism, marriage and death; to try him for crimes and misdemeanors, and to protect him from both private and judicial vengeance was a means of preserving the history of individuals and communities, for the noted events of the Government were also celebrated and

recorded in the churches. As the courts of law gradually developed, they took the people and the government, of which they formed a part, under their supervision; thus the records passed slowly from the churches and convents into a final independence of them. The decrees of the kings, like that creating the Domesday Book, from time to time established a special collection and preservation of archives. By the conservation of family records they have in many cases become official archives. In England they grew into great importance through the "Visitation" as it was called of the King-at-arms, begun possibly in the reign of Henry VIII and intended at first only to decide the disputed question as to which families were entitled to bear a coat of arms.

In the preservation of her archives and an appreciation of their value England has a rival in Spain. There the details of every transaction of the past seems to be cherished with a reverential spirit. Our own historians have availed themselves of the almost unlimited treasures preserved by the Spanish Government. There is little need to speak of the debt we owe to Spain in the department of history at this time and in this place, where on every side there are evidences of her care for her archives, and her generosity in lending them. Yet I can not refrain from mentioning a striking illustration of the fullness and accuracy of these records, and the facility with which they can become available. The old Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Fla., is, I believe, the only work of its peculiar kind on this continent. One of a similar interest, and closely resembling it was a few years ago among the historical relics of New Orleans; our Government allowed it to be sold and converted into a beer garden, losing every trace of its ancient dignity. A retired army officer, visiting St. Augustine, heard that the picturesque Fort Marion there was in imminent danger of like degradation. He appealed successfully to the engineer on inspection duty, and induced him to recommend the renovation of the old fort instead of its destruction. The proposition was accepted by our Government, and the officer who was to supervise the work was authorized to write to the Spanish Government and ask for any information they could furnish in regard to the original plans of the fort, now so dilapidated as to be difficult of restoration. To the astonished gratification of the officer he received, in a very short time, a full case of the original plans and drawings of the fort and the surrounding country,

with a complete account of the expense of building, the number of men employed for the work, the provision for them, etc., and all this after an interval of about three hundred years.

In contrast to this may be mentioned the loss, so far as I know, of all record of the plans and drawings of Kosciusko for the fortified camp at Saratoga in the Burgoyne campaign in 1777, little more than one hundred years ago. There are many maps and drawings of the British engineers of the opposing camp. From these British records and remains of the American defenses and reports of officers, the American works have been located and tablets erected to mark them. Had the patriotic work been deferred, even to the present time, all indication of military occupation would have been obliterated. Thus are we indebted to other nations for the preservation of our own historical relics and records.

France has been generous and painstaking in the preservation of her archives, but they have suffered many vicissitudes in the fluctuations of her government, and it has been said that her historians copy and quote from them with a free hand; that they have not the same regard for accuracy and the disregard for a revelation of disagreeable facts that distinguishes the Englishman.

The Italians have, in the Vatican, still an unexplored wealth of historical treasure that will continue to unfold for ages its hidden narratives, some of them, perhaps, as remarkable as the discovery of the Cicero de Republica. You remember how Cardinal Maii picked up an old manuscript in the Vatican written in a clear bold hand; reading it he was impressed only with the indifferent style and folly of the writer, but as he read he observed some strange characters of a different kind from this bold writing; he traced this hidden lettering into words that made a quotation from Cicero used by an old writer; his curiosity still further excited, he pursued his investigation which resulted in the discovery of the long lost literary treasure, the Cicero de Republica; by the application of chemicals the later writing was obliterated and the ancient one restored.

The Government of the United States, with all the excuses which have been presented, still appears to have been culpa bly negligent in the collection and preservation of the national archives.

That the Saxon instinct to hold on to all that is of value in the past, for utility if not for veneration, is strong within us

།

is proved by the quick awakening of the country to the memories of this historic year, and to the appeals of various associations having in view the restoration of historical records, and the veneration of ancestors. The people are always in advance of their legislators; these last are held back by motives of policy, but the people strike out for what they want, and in time they bring their legislators to their way of thinking. Would not the vote of the people on any day decide that the few thousand dollars necessary to print the Revolutionary papers now lying, in their single original copies, in the State Department, should be expended promptly and generously for that purpose?

On the tables of the State Department in Washington I have had piled up before me, for reference, dozens of these precious volumes of manuscript, many of them torn and worn; and as I handled them gently, thankful indeed for the privilege accorded me by the officials in charge, I was almost moved to tears in the thought that by a single accident the nation might be stripped of these treasures of the past.

Such valuable papers are not only on the shelves of the public Departments; they are scattered all over the country. Would not a vote of the people, if taken to-day, be in favor of the appointment of officers of the Government whose duty it should be to collect and preserve these documents?

Would it not be well that we, who are gathered here in the interest of historical research, should make our opinion and desire heard concerning the Revolutionary records, by means of a strong resolution addressed to the Congress soon to convene; this resolution to embody a petition for the collection and preservation of the Revolutionary and other national archives?