Sixty-Third Annual Report, 1880
With reference to the growth and condition of the Library, the trustees, in connection with the above tabular statement, refer to
their report for the year 1878, where the policy to be pursued in the future development of the Library is laid down. In the additions made during the past year the policy there explained has been kept steadily in view. The annexed lists will give in detail these additions.
In the Law Library the trustees are able to report that by the purchase of a copy of Bradford's first edition of the laws of the colony of New York, printed in 1694, at the Brinley sale, the set of laws of the State is rendered complete. This work is exceedingly rare. Not more than five copies are known to be extant, and of these, probably but cue copy is equal to the one purchased, in point of preservation and completeness.
APPENDIX A.
To the Honorable the Regents of the University of the State of New York:
Gentlemen — The law department of the library has been increased, during the year 1880, by the addition of 1,138 volumes.
Of these, about three hundred volumes were received under the system of inter-State and foreign exchange. The character of the
books added has not varied materially from that of former years, a large part having been continuations of the American and British reports, statutes, law periodicals and standard elementary works.
Valuable additions have been made to the collection of statute law and State papers ; among these, are the session laws of Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, for the years 1861 to 1865, and the parliamentary papers of Great Britain for the sessions of 18Y6, 1877 and 1878, bound in one hundred and twenty-live volumes, folio.
A copy of Bradford's first edition of the laws of the colony of New York, printed in 1694, was purchased at the sale of the Brinley library. Not more than five copies of this edition of the colonial laws are known to be extant. Of these, it is understood that one
copy is in the Lenox library ; another, known as the Van Schaack copy, is the property of Mr. A. J. Vanderpoel, of New York, and is the only copy which is equal to the Brinley copy in point of preservation and completeness; another, is in the New York Society library, and an imperfect copy is in the office of the Secretary of State. The copy purchased contains not only the 1694 edition of the laws, but also the acts passed at subsequent sessions down to October, 1708, bound together in one volume.
The importance of securing this volume is seen in the fact that before its purchase the State of New York did not possess a complete series of the various editions of its own laws. Several of the most important acts passed during the colonial period are contained therein, among which are the acts relating to the judicial organization of the province, which the courts and the legal profession, not unfrequently, have need to consult.
The rarity of the volume, and the improbability of another copy being offered for sale within any reasonable period, together with
the fact that it was the first book printed in New York,* excited an
*William Bradford , who has been mentioned as the first who printed in Pennsylvania, introduced the art into New York. He continued his printing in Philadelphia until some time in the year 1698, when he set up a press in New York and was appointed printer to the government. The first work from his press was a small folio volume of the laws of the colony." [Thomas' hist, of printing in Am., vol. 3, p. 91.]
earnest competition among several bidders for its possession and carried the price to $1,600, at which sum it was secured for the State library. Although this is a large sum to pay for a single work, it is believed that the nature of the volume, and its importance to the legal history of the State, abundantly justifies the action of your honorable board in authorizing its purchase.
The use of the works in this department of the library, by judges of the courts. State officers, members of the legislature and of the bar, has been more extensive during the past year than that of any preceding year. The need of a subject-index catalogue of the books in this department, increases with the increase of volumes and of use, and i am happy to state that the action of your honorable board in July last, in directing the preparation of such a catalogue, has met with the most cordial appreciation from the bench and the bar of the State. With an assistant to attend to the routine work in the library, I have been able to give, thus far, about three months of labor to the preparation of the catalogue.
All of which is respectfully submitted,
STEPHEN B. GRISWOLD,
Librarian of the Law Library.
State Library, Albany, January 1, 1881.
Sixty-Fourth Annual Report
REPORT.
To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of New York :
The Regents of the University, as Trustees of the State Library respectfully submit their Sixty-fourth Annual Report.
The general growth and prosperity of the library have continued uninterruptedly during the past year.Increasing embarrassment
has been felt in finding space in the present quarters for the proper display or even disposal of the books and pamphlets of the library. Some immediate relief is absolutely necessary, which for the present may best be afforded by a room for storage of duplicates and unclassified library material. This, it is hoped, may be obtained in the new capitol, so that when the permanent halls for the library shall be completed, the transfer thither may be easy. The policy of making the general library more distinctively, but by no means exclusively, a library of American history, has been pursued carefully during the past year. Care is taken to gather up the material w
hich may furnish the original sources of history in the future. All local histories and biographies and genealogies which may supply facts for the future historian, are, as far as possible, secured. An extensive system of exchanges for obtaining such material is carried on both in this country and in Europe.
The subject-index catalogue of the general library, which has been in course of preparation for a number of years, is essentially complete and is now in course of being printed. Its completion and publication will aid greatly in the ready and effective use of the books in this collection.
The law library is enriched each year by the addition of all important reports and by the documents and session laws of nearly
every state in the Union. Its use by the courts of the state and the lawyers and legislators in the performance of their duties has
been greater during the past year than at any preceding period. For important information as to this department of the library
reference is made to the statement by the librarian in charge. The work on the subject-index for this library is in progress, but
will require a considerable time for its proper completion. It is believed by the trustees that this will be, especially to the members of the legislature, of great service in facilitating inquiry into the various subjects which require investigation in legislation.
The accessions and present condition of the library are shown in the following statement :
At the dose of the year 1880, the volumes contained in
the general library were as follows , 81, YQ3
In the law library 32, 309
During the year 1881, there were added :
To the general library 1,771
To the law library 91-7
At the close of the year 1881 :
In the general library 83,474
In the law library/ . , . . 33,226
116,700
Of the additions made to the library there were :
Acquired by purchase . ^ '. 1,278
Acquired by donation or exchange 1,410
Total 2,688
The legislature of 1881 authorized the trustees of the library to procure the arranging and indexing of the Clinton papers and other historical papers in the library. They were fortunate in being able to appoint for this interesting and important work a gentleman who by learning, experience and &mily traditions, is especially qualified for the task. George W. Clinton, the son of the second Governor Clinton and a grand-nephew of the first, has entered upon the work of studying and arranging these papers with patriotic as well as filial zeal'. The report of his progress and of the scope and prospects of the work is appended to this report. There are twenty-three volumes of the Clinton papers. Judge Clinton has undertaken as a first step of his work to go oyer these volumes and make entry of every name and important fact for the purposes of a general index. In 'this preliminary task he has gone over eight of these volumes. Besides the index which he thus has under way, he proposed to make extended annotations from other sources explanatory of the facts referred to more or less obscurely in the text. This careful and intelligent study of these original documents cannot fail to throw an important light on many of the events in the early history of the state .
By chapter 120 of the Laws of 1881, certain enumerated documents in the custody of the Secretary of State and of the Comptroller, are transferred to the charge of the trustees of the State Library. The legislature not having made provision for the expense of the transfer and the care of these documents they have been suffered to remain up to the present in charge of the former officers, and the clerk in charge, Mr. B. Fernow, still remains responsible to the Secretary of State. He has, however, prepared a statement with reference to these papers which is appended to this report and to which reference is here made.
The list of additions made to the library is herewith appended to this report.
Respectfully submitted,
H. R. PIERSON,
David Murray, Chancellor.
Secretary
REPORT OF THE LlBRARIAN OF THE GENERAL LIBRARY.
To the Regents of the University as trustees of the State Library :
In accordance with your resolution passed January 14, 1881, I submit a report on the general library for the year ending December 31, 1881.
In the general library during the year 1881, the principal work in the library, in addition to the ordinary work, has been the preparation of a supplementary subject-index to the subject-index of 1872, embracing the ten years following that index, with thousands of references for subjects contained in volumes previously in the library. The new volume will appear in the course of the summer of 1882 and will make a volume it is believed of over four hundred pages.
The additions to the general library have been less in number than the additions of the several years previous. Among the reasons by which this may be accounted for there are two prominent ones : one is the production in states of the Union, both east and west, of exceedingly voluminous county histories, and the purchase of these quartos, frequently counting more than a thousand pages each, has absorbed more than five hundred dollars of the apnuS appropriation by the state. The other reason is that a larger amount of money has been paid during the year for rare and costly books than in some previous years. Thus the ninety-five quarto volumes of the publications of the Maitland Club were secured. Of these volumes not more than seventy-five copies of most of them were printed, and of a considerable number not more than fifty copies, and all of the volumes have a historical value in illustrating the history of Great Britain. This diminution in the number of books added has been less regretted because we have not as yet secured the necessary and increased space to accommodate the larger number. We have reason to expect that during the winter we shall be provided with temporary accommodation in a room of the new capitol for the storage of such books of the library as are least in demand, and thus secure a double advantage — the ability to increase the amount of our annual purchases and to obtain at the same time shelf-room for them.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY A. HOMES,
Librarian, of the General Library.
State Librarian, Jany 1882.
To the Regents of the University of the State of New York :
Gentlemen — The number of volumes added to the law department of the library during the year 1881, is 917, which is fully
equal to the average of the three preceding years, if we exclude special purchases of British parliamentary papers that are embraced in the accessions of those years.
Important additions have been made of American and British reports and statutes, and of standard elementary works. The usual
number of publications have been received under the system of inter-state and foreign exchange.
During the past year the works in this department have been in daily use by readers in the library hall. In addition thereto and
under the provisions of existing law, upwards of 3,000 volumes have been delivered to the judges of the courts, state officers, members of the legislature and members of the bar when engaged in the argument or trial of causes, for temporary use in the exercise of their respective official duties.
The enforcement of the ordinance of 1879 which prohibits the "occupation of the room of this department as a study and reading room and the use of its volumes as text-books by law students," has promoted the convenience of the " officers of the government, the courts and the bar," in their use of the volumes.
Considerable progress has been made in the preparation of the subject-index catalogue authorized by chap. 306 of the Laws of
1881. The labor of preparing the catalogue is somewhat greater than was anticipated, by reason of the disclosure as the work progresses, of a large number of typographical errors in the catalogues of 1855 and 1865, to correct which, requires an actual examination of the volumes upon the shelves. The work will be ready for th6 printer during the year 1883, and will embrace all the publications contained-in the law department at the close of the present year. Specimen subjects of the proposed catalogue are herewith submitted, which will give a general idea of the classification, arrangement and form of titles, and serve to illustrate in some degree the value of the work to those for whom this department of the library was established and is maintained. It will be observed that these specimens are but fragments and in no manner represent either the completeness or the typography of the catalogue as it will finally appear.
Respectfully submitted,
STEPHEN B. GRISWOLD,
Librarian of the Law Library,
State Library, Albany, January 2, 1882.
REPORT.
To the Trustees of the New York State Library :
I have the honor of submitting the following statement as to the condition of the historical records, transferred to the care of your
Honorable body from the offices of the Secretary of State and of the Comptroller, by chapter 120, Laws of 1881.
Lack of space in the State library has so far prevented the actual transfer of the rich collection of historical material, which is probably the largest owned by any one State in, the Union, but also, unfortunately, one of the least known ; however, pursuant to the provisions of the quoted chapter of the Laws, the Honorable Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York as trustees of the State library, at their midsummer convocation, have honored me by entrusting the records in question to my care.
The earliest record preserved, an Indian deed for the present site of Hoboken, N. J., is dated July 12, 1630, and from that date down to August, 1664, the twenty-one volumes of Dutch records, containing about 12,000 entries, give an almost complete history of Dutch rule and of the government which first introduced upon the soil of New York European civilization and founded there courts, schools, churches and similar institutions for the benefit of its sub-
Deeds. Of these twenty-one volumes three are the "Register of the Provincial Secretary," whose functions embraced all those of a modern notary public, clerk of a court of record, surrogate and member of the Governor's council. Seven volumes of '' Council Minutes" give, with considerable gaps, the proceedings of the Director-General and his advisers as legislative, executive and judiciary council. Five volumes contain the correspondence between the Director-General and the home government or his subordinate officers in the province, two the records of land patents and deeds, and four more the ordinances for internal government, writs of appeal, records of Fort Orange (now Albany), a^d of the colony on the Delaware. All these records are written in the Dutch language and in the old Gothic hand of the seventeenth century, as unintelligible as hieroglyphics or Chinese characters are to most of us. The few documents written in English by George Baxter, the English secretary of the province, are even harder to decipher, as the style of writing in England just then undergoing a change, had not yet reached the fluency of the later current nana, while it had lost the distinctness of the Gothic.
The English records of this series, known as the ''New York Colonial Manuscripts," follow in eighty-four volumes closely upon the Dutch period in the panorama of the Colony's internal development. The view through these " Colonial Manuscripts" (English)
is, however, incomplete, as they contain only the letters, reports, petitions, etc., upon which the executive government of the province based their action. The light needed for a clearer view is given by the forty-four volumes of General Entries, Orders in Council, Minutes of the Courts of Assizes, Council Minutes and Treasurer's Accounts. These latter records are in bound volumes of from 200 to 400 pages each and as yet neither indexed nor calendared, while the first-mentioned series of New York Colonial Manuscripts, recovered from heaps of loose files of papers and neatly put up in large folio volumes, each document being given a stub and cover page, were indexed and calendared with great care by the late Dr. O'Callaghan. The eighty-four volumes of New York' Colonial Manuscripts (English) contain about 26,000 different papers, mostly written in the English language, although there are some in French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Danish. The forty-four volumes of General Entries, etc., are of course all in English.
Governor Dongan was, by his instructions of May 29, 16S6 authorized and directed to issue marriage licenses, which authorization was continued from time to time to the succeeding governors until the Revolution. The first licenses are recorded scatteringly in " General Entries" and " Orders in Council," etc. Their number increasing with the influx of population, the secretary of the province was compelled to keep a separate register of marriage bonds, executed before the license could, be given. I have under my charge forty bound volumes containing about 11,000 of these bonds, given from 1686 to 1776. Not all the matrimonial engagements entered into by the inhabitants of the' province are represented by these bonds; the Quakers, for instance, objected to giving such a bond and many others lived too far from the secretary's office to execute it ; their marriages are recorded only in the registers of their respective churches.
When the Palatines were compelled to leave their homes on the Rhine, many children either arrived in this country as orphans or lost their parents soon after their arrival. For their benefit Governor Hunter proposed in 1710 that such children should be bound out to serve such parties as certain commissioners approved and accepted the bond of . The volume ' ' Indentures of Palatine Children," contains the record of eighty-four of these transactions during the years 1710 and 1711.
A similar paternal desire, superinduced upon political foresight, led to the royal proclamation of October 7, 1763, regulating the
trade with the Indians in such a manner that they would not desert the British interest, and requiring all persons who wished to go into the Indian country to trade, to execute a bond. About four hundred of such bonds, executed during the years 1765 to 1771, are bound in two volumes, called " Indian Trader' Bonds."
The volume "The Duke's Laws, 1674," contains the regulations made by the delegates of the Long Island settlements in 1666 and approved by the Duke of York. Our copy is signed by the Duke of York and certified to by his secretary, Wren. These regulations were at first in force only on Long Island and in New York city and were introduced in other parts of the colony from 1673 to 1676.
The acts passed by the first assembly of the colony of New York in 1683-4, are preserved in the volume called ''Donganfs Laws,"
and two volumes contain the bills which failed to become laws during the time from 1685 to 1732.
The contents of the next three volumes are shown by their titles : 1. Minutes of the Commissioners to settle the boundaries between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, 1741. 2. Minutes of the Commissioners to re-examine the controversy between Connecticut and the Mohegan Indians, 1743 3. Collection of evidence in vindication of the territorial rights of New York against the claims of the New England colonies,* 1750.
An insight into the commercial history of New York is given by thirty-three volumes of manifests entered at the New York custom-house from 1737 to 1774, ten volumes of entry- books, also of the New York custom-house from 1728 to 1769, seven volumes of ship-master's bonds from 1750 to 1766.
This ends the list of original records of the Province of New-Netherland and New York. The collection of Colonial documents
was completed about forty years ago. by the copies of original papers in the archives of England, Holland and France, procured by Mr. J. Romeyn Broadhead and edited by him and Dr. O'Callaghan, in eleven volumes, under the title of '* Documents relating to the Colonial- History of New York." These copies fill eighty large octavo volumes.
Of papers relating to the Revolutionary period there are ten! volumes, *' Journal of the New York Convention and Committee of
Safety, 1776-8," and twelve "Revolutionary Papers, 1775-7," both
Published in two volumes under the title of " Journal of the New York Convention." These twenty-two volumes are preserved in
the same manner as the New York Colonial Manuscripts, while the balance of papers covering this period are bound solidly in twenty-three more Volumes of ledger size and partly published in two volumes, called " Calendar of New York Historical Manuscripts, Revolutionary Papers." Further material for the history of the Revolution may be found in forty-three volumes of " Assembly Papers, 1777-1831," fourteen volumes "Minutes of the Council of Appointment, 1777-1821," five volumes "Minutes of the Council of Revision, 1778-1824" and about 250^ bundles of papers relating to the proceedings of the Council of Appointment. Ten volumes "Accounts of Certificates issued by the State Treasurer," three of "New York Quartermasters' Accounts and Journal, 1780-1785," one " Revolutionary Prisoner's Pay-roll," one " Pay-roll, New York Line," and one "Military Register, 1778-82," give information concerning the New York Contingent to the Army of the U. S. during the Revolution, while the property taken from Tories in 1777-1779 and 1782, is accounted for in two volumes.
The historian of the inner development of the State during the first half century of its existence will find ample material in the
above-mentioned Assembly Papers, etc., and further in two volumes relating to the Vermont Controversy, 177Y and 1Y79, four of miscellaneous papers relating to frontiers, Onondaga salt works, Canadian sympathizers, anti-rent war, boundaries, etc., one volume entitled ''Onondaga Claims," four ''Onondaga Springs," and a large number of unbound files of election returns from 1800 to 1837.
The papers relating to the division of towns and counties, incorporation of cities and villages, construction of canals, rivers, public highways and other topics, deposited in five boxes and placed in one of the committee rooms of the old capitol by a commission appointed by the assembly in 1830, are unfortunately lost, and I have good reason to believe through the dishonesty of a former servant of the State, as the boxes mentioned in the import of the commission are still in the old capitol but empty, while papers evidently taken from these boxes were shown me by a citizen of this place to whom they had been given with his endorsed compliments by a former employee of the State.
As the law now stands (chapter 140 of the Laws of 183Y) all petitions and papers presented to the senate and assembly are to be kept on file in each of the houses where they were originally presented. For some years past it has been customary to deliver some of these to the librarian of your library, but as this was done, I believe, only to relieve the crowded document rooms of the legislature in the old capitol, and as I have no authority to make further investigations it cannot be ascertained whether all of the legislative papers, which have a bearing on the history of the State, are preserved. It is our duty to future generations to show them the motives of our present actions if we wish them to be proud of their forefathers and fathers. It would prevent the committee rooms of the legislature and the store rooms from being littered and filled with what many are at present inclined to call an objectionable nuisance, but among which there may be papers worth a great deal to the following generations, and it would increase only slightly the duties of this department, without probably increasing the expenses, if the legislature were to direct that all papers (petitions, reports, etc.), which are presented to either House or to a committee of either, shall be preserved during the session by the clerks of the two Houses, and after its close delivered to this department. I beg to submit this suggestion to the consideration of your Honorable body.
I have stated above how much of this vast collection of historical material, or rather how little, comparatively, has been made accessible to the general public by publication up to 1866. Since that year I have translated and edited in 1877, under direction of Hon. John Bigelow, then Secretary of State, a volume of documents relating to the colonization of the territory now comprising the State of Delaware, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last year I published in like manner, under the^direction of the Hon. Joseph B. Oarr, the present Secretary of State, a volume of documents relating to the settlements on Hudson's and Mohawk rivers, and have translated for. like publication the documents relating to the colonization of Long Island, the development of the cities of New York and Albany, and the relations of this colony with those of New England, of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. New York has as well in colonial as in Revolutionary times, been the mainstay of the English-speaking part of this continent, and her history is so closely interwoven with that of the other States that the historical publications, few in number as they have hitherto been, are constantly cited and extracts reprinted in those of other States,
as in Volume VII of Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, where about one half of Volume XII of our own colonial documents are reprinted, and in Volume I, New Jersey Archives, which extracts freely from the same and preceding volumes. Pennsylvania has exhausted her colonial material and is now publishing the records of her youthful existence as a State. New Jersey has almost reached the end of her colonial period ; Massachusetts and Connecticut had published all their colonial records almost before New York began the publication of hers, and are now authorizing the cities and towns in their limits to publish their records.
The correspondence of this department goes to show that the interest of the people of the State and of natives of New York or
descendants of New Yorkers in other States, in historical matters is growing. It is true many inquiries made relate only to family history, but I have found during the four years in which I have had the charge of these records, that research into a man's family history frequently leads him into other wider historical researches benefiting the people at large. When the history of this State is thoroughly known, no man will be ashamed to call himself a son of New York, as a prominent merchant said of himself a few years ago, " bcause she h(m no recordP
I have the honor to be, gentlemen.
Your very obedient servant,
BERTHOLD FERNOW.
Albany Jan. 9, 1882. In charge of the Hist, Records.
Sixty-Fifth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Library, For the Year 1882. TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE JANUARY 11, 1883. ALBANY: Weed, Parsons and Company, Printers (1883) [Full Text Archive.org]
CONTENTS. Page.
Report of the Trustees of the State Library 7
APPENDIX.
1. Report of George W. Clinton, Editor of the Clinton Papers 10
2. Report of the Librarian of the General Library 15
3. Report of the Librarian of the Law Library 19
4. List of Publications received by Donation or Exchange during 1882. . . 21
6. Additions to the General Library 51
6. Additions to the Law Library 124
REPORT.
To the Honor able the Legislature of the State of New York :
The trustees of the State Library respectfully present to the Legislature as required by law this their Sixty-fifth Annual Report.
The additions to the library during the year ending December 31, 1882, are shown in the following statement :
At the close of the year 1881 : volumes.
In the general library 83, 474
In the law library 33, 226
Total 116, 700
Added during the year 1882 :
To the general library 1, 653
To the law library. . . 953
Total 2, 606
At the close of the year 1882 :
In the general library . . 85, 027
In the law library 34, 179
Total 119, 206
Of the additions to the library acquired by purchase 1, 395
Acquired by donation or exchange 1, 111
Total 2, 606
For the details of the additions to the library the trustees refer the Legislature to the list of books and pamphlets received by donation or exchange during the year 1882, and the catalogue of additions which are appended to the report.
The trustees also herewith transmit the reports made to them by the librarians of the general and law libraries, giving full particulars as to the progress and present condition of the collections under their care. These reports will show how much has been accomplished with the means placed at the disposal of the trustees. The library has grown to be. one of the most valuable and useful in the. country, and it has become so by an expenditure so limited as to be quite disproportionate to its value. During the past two years the trustees have felt very plainly the inadequacy of the appropriation for the support of the library. It is found impossible in the law department to keep the tables supplied with the important periodicals which the courts and the lawyers call for. In the special lines in which it has been found expedient to develop the general library, the "material constantly offering far exceeds the means afforded for purchase. Not only has the material in these lines become more abundant, but its cost has greatly advanced.
A supplement to the subject-index of the general library published in 1872, which has been for some time in preparation, has been issued during the past year. It forms a volume of 414 pages, and it is believed will add. greatly to the utility of collection. A corresponding supplement is in preparation to the catalogue of the law library which it is hoped will be completed during the coming year.
Under laws enacted at various times, the remainders of the editions of the several volumes of the documentary and colonial histories have been handed over to the Regents of the University for the purposes of literary exchange. It is believed that all who by any law or right were entitled to these volumes by free distribution have been supplied, and that what remain may now be used for the benefit of the library. The editions of many of the volumes are completely exhausted, and it is no longer possible to make up sets. Under these circumstances the trustees have deemed it their duty to transfer the entire remaining stock of these volumes to the library to form a part of its duplicates, and to be sold or exchanged for its benefit under the laws relating thereto. In making this transfer of course the rights of those who may still have a legal claim for volumes of the set have been protected.
The trustees call the attention of the Legislature to the report herewith transmitted of the Honorable George W. Clinton, who by appointment of the trustees is engaged upon the work of indexing and editing the Clinton papers. Most satisfactory progress has been made during the year, and the value and interest of the collection of papers become more apparent as the work progresses. The trustees respectfully commend the work to the fostering care of the Legislature, and can give the fullest assurance that the material which is thus prepared for publication will prove of the utmost historical interest.
The historical documents transferred to the custody of the trustees of the State Library by chapter 120 of the Laws of 1881, have been continued during the past year in the special charge of Mr. Berthold Fernow. They still remain in one of the rooms of the State hall.
When the library is transferred to its new quarters in the Capitol, the documents will then be consolidated with the other collections.
Chapter 295 of the Laws of 1882 provided that the commissioners of the Capitol should prepare plans for the proper accommodation of the State Library, and should submit such plans to the trustees of the library for their approval. These plans were prepared accordingly and submitted, and after mature consideration and the introduction of suggested modifications, were duly approved. They provide quarters for the library on the west front of the building where it is believed it will have ample room not only for its present wants but for its legitimate increase.
The staff of the library has continued without change up to the end of the year and will be found prefixed to this report.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY R. PIERSON,
Chancellor
David Murray,
Secretary.
REPORT ON THE GEORGE CLINTON PAPERS.
By George W. Clinton
To the Regents of the University :
The undersigned, to whom was committed the duty of indexing and editing the George Clinton Papers, etc., is sorry to be compelled to report that, with his utmost diligence, he has been able only to extract from the Clinton papers full materials for the body of the Index, excepting only assured notes of the contents of two ancient Dutch documents, one Spanish and two or three French letters. Prof. Pearson, of Union College, has kindly consented to furnish translations of the Dutch documents, and translations of the Spanish and of the French letters can easily be procured. The by no means inconsiderable task of verifying and correcting these memoranda and of forming from them a compact but very full index of this large collection of papers, remains to be performed. The contents of these papers are very various, but, in the main, they present the chiefest items of the history of our State during the whole period of the war of the Revolution, with innumerous events and incidents which general history is unable to record, but which tend strongly to bring before us the character of our then people and inform us of their intelligence and love of liberty. They are permeated by the spirit of those dreadful times, and are full of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin. Not one of the thirteen States was an equal sufferer with New York, and not one was more noble in suffering, or more active, persistent and efficient in devotion to the common cause. Despoiled of her chief city and cut off from communication with the sea at almost the beginning of the war, she was subjected almost continually to invasions from the north and from the south so bloody and unsparing that loyalty faltered in her north east, and Schenectady, near the close of the war, became her frontier post upon the west. From all sides to the very centre of the territory that was left to her, and from within herself she was harassed by the depredations of organized bands of tory robbers. Surely the wisdom and stern virtues of our people which, amid such instant and appalling dangers "plucked the flower safety," and the unfailing alacrity with which they guarded the passes of the Highlands, whose capture by the enemy might well have produced a fatal issue of the war, deserve to be recorded in their minutest proofs and incidents. These papers embody many such proofs and incidents, and I doubt not throw light upon the characters and histories. of actors, conspicuous and inconspicuous, in that eventful war. It is not for me to judge the men who were serviceable to our country in those times, They were an outgrowth of the people and consonant with them in spirit. History establishes the fact that, with very few if any exceptions, no people has been rescued from oppression, or elevated in the scale of nations, save by their own action. In their need they have invoked----I may say created----the heroes and the sages who, with their support and the blessing of Almighty God, vindicated their rights and led them upward.
The Index, when completed, ought to be clearly engrossed and kept with the papers---every item of information in which it will make easily accessible. It will be very voluminous, and I can see at present no special good to flow from printing it. But it will be, if it prove to be such an one as I am aiming to make it, an essential aid in attaining the end the Legislature had in view in providing for its preparation. It is indispensable to the easy and thorough examination of this very large and miscellaneous collection, for the purpose of selecting from it such matter as it is desirable to publish, and in preparing an index for that selection. That the collection does contain a very large number of papers worthy of publication I am persuaded.
It consists of some few private and professional business papers of George Clinton, which, so far as they show current prices, the habits and customs of the people, the manners and business methods of the times, and are connected with his personal history, are of some value ; of some few purely family and friendly letters, and three or four from Du Simitiere, of Philadelphia, a man of science and a would-be historian of America, and these have for me at least some interest ; of George Clinton's correspondence touching all the incidents and movements of the war, and all the great subjects of policy and government which had to be considered and acted upon during and immediately subsequent to the war, such as the defenses of the Highlands, rebelling and returning the assaults of the enemy, the embargo of our grain and cattle and applying them to the support of the Continental army, the crippling and banishment of enemies of the country, the prevention and punishment of illicit intercourse with the enemy, the repression of crimes and enforcement of law, the extradition of fugitives from justice, the finances and government of the State and the expedients, often strained beyond plain justice, to enable it to meet the requisitions of the Federal Congress, the conduct of the customs before the Constitution of the United States was adopted, the defects of the articles of confederation, the merits of the Constitution as proposed and the need of its amendment when adopted, and the dangerous and impolitic secrecy of the Senate of the United States, in short almost every thing in which the interests of the people and the honor and safety of the State and nation were or were supposed to be involved. Then, too, it embraces a portion of George Clinton's correspondence with Genet, with the French Consuls in New York city, with our own government and with Monroe during a portion of the French Revolution. It is no part of my humble duty, in my employment, to characterize men or measures, but you will excuse me in remarking that this correspondence here gives me great pleasure by satisfying me, beyond a question, that George Clinton and his compeers, whatever may have been their errors, were always advocates of the right of the people to govern and uncomprising asserters of the dignity of the State. The papers also comprise a large number of copies of the acts of Congress during and shortly after the war, and some of the acts of our Legislature. These, of course, though proper and instructive in their places among the papers, are mere material for connective notes and will form no part of the matter selected for publication.
I regret to find that here and there a gap occurs in this correspondence The correspondence during the French Revolution, and the trampling upon our rights and the embarrassment of our commerce during the war that followed its outbreak, is meagre. Letters from or to George Clinton are occasionally missing. True it is that in a large majority of cases, the substantial contents of the missing letters is made clearly manifest by the answer to it, but the letters themselves are, in almost every case, desirable, and in some few instances are necessary to a certain understanding of the allusions or answers to them. Then again we have only the drafts of George Clinton's letters, and they are by no means infrequently clouded with erasures and interlineations and difficult to decipher ; and I need not say that the letters themselves, as sent, would be more satisfactory. I have given so much time as I could, without neglect of my immediate duty to the index, to the identification of localities, persons and events named and referred to in this correspondence, and to inquiry as to the sources from which the State may freely obtain the missing letters and the original letters of George Clinton, and so place this correspondence in as full and perfect a condition as possible. Our excellent librarian, Mr. Homes, has collected some materials for a supplemental volume ; Horatio Seymour has given the Library a valuable document towards it, and similar gifts may reasonably be expected. Some of the letters we desire have undoubtedly been published, and I propose to ascertain what ones have been and when and where. Many others, with documents and papers which ought properly to be with this collection, are in the possession of collectors of autographs; some are in the stores accessible or inaccessible for use, of our historical societies ; many are
treasured by descendants of their recipients, whose descendants will neither value nor care for them ; many are lying in garrets and out-houses intermixed with business and other papers which have lost their uses. It is very much to be desired that our people should search these depositories and consider whether public spirit does not require that they should give to the State Library such of these desiderata as they have in their control, so that these relics and proofs of the honorable estimation of their ancestors may be assured perpetual preservation for public use. The State has entered upon the task of collecting these disjecta membra of its history and of the lives of its worthy citizens, and surely every worthy citizen will willingly contribute his or her aid.
My study of these papers has inspired me with the hope that among the many who can and will readily supply the deficiencies I have indicated and enrich these collections, are the descendants of the following learned men and families of George Clinton's time:
I must undoubtedly have omitted many names in the following list with which an imperfect memory, which 1 have no time to refresh, supplies me on the instant. Allison, Benson, Clinton (including Sir Henry), Colden, Cantine, Du Simitiere (Philadelphia). Duane, Duer, DeWitt, Fish, Fonda, Gelston, Hawkins, Hay (especially Col. Udney), Livingston, Lush, Malcom, McClaghry, Morris, Monroe, Mifflin, (Thomas, Gov. of Penn.), McKesson, Schuyler, Scott, Tappen, Tallmadge, Tayler, Varick (Richard, Mayor, etc.), Van Cortlandt, Van Rensselaer, Van Wyck, Van Home, Adjutant-General,
Would that the press would give its influence and exert its power in favor of the donations to the State of these relics of our history.
The documents involving our State history, so far as the State has them, are properly preserved, arranged and cared for. The State has been justly liberal in calendaring them and in publishing with indexes a large number, but very many remain unpublished and unindexed, though accessible. From the commencement of George Clinton's incumbency of the governorship down to John Jay's assumption of the office, the proper distribution and custody of State papers among the various State officers does not appear to have been settled. At least I infer so from the fact that a large number of returns and which would seem to belong to the Legislature and to the Adjutant-General's and other State officers' departments, are found among these papers. If they turn out to be mere duplicates, there will, of course, be no need of publishing them : if any are necessary to the full history of any department of the government, a minute of them ought to be filed in that department. Indeed, if such documents be scattered, it would seem to be desirable to catalogue them for each department.
I have avoided touching upon many particular contents of these
Papers which seem to me full of interest, but I will be excused, I hope, for stating that it was a grateful surprise to me to find one or more of the Vermont leaders whose astute policy was deemed to approach if not to reach treason, corresponding amicably with George Clinton, after the final recognition of the independence of that State, and to see its university in the attitude of a petitioner to New York for a grant of land; that it was a surprise not altogether pleasant to find Brant admitted to what I will call a qualified friendship by George Clinton, and serving the State and the United States for a consideration, and so dwindling from the fiendish, the heroic, the romantic, to a common-place mortality ; ---and that it was very painful to see the harmony with which our statesmen and our warriors were animated while achieving our independence, changing into that spirit of distrust and hate which made our earlier politics ferocious. But then it is very cheering to see, however dimly, that God did educe good from evil ; to feel that the miseries and reverses which our forefathers endured so gallantly prepared the way for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States and made its amendment imperative. Indeed, the whole course of our history, from the first planting of the Netherlands down to our happy day, ought to strengthen our gratitude to Almighty God, and confirm our humble hope that, in all the exigencies of its future, He will continue His favor to our country, raise up men fitted for the times, and make its liberty eternal.
G. W. CLINTON. ,
Albany, January 11, 1883.
REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF THE GENERAL LIBRARY.
To the Regents of the University Trustees of the State Library :
The number of volumes in the State Library at the close of the year 1882 is 119,206, of which 85,027 volumes are in the General Library, showing an increase in that department of the moderate number of 1,553 volumes.
The most expensive of these additions to this department have been, as in the previous year, the histories of the counties in the States of the Union both at the east and west; they continue to be published with great frequency. The number of volumes relating to events in the Civil war of 1861 to 1865 has received large additions during the past year, the histories of the action of towns, regiments, companies and individuals continuing to be published to the end of the year. The volumes in the library relating to the subject are over one thousand. We have had no opportunity as yet to count the large number of pamphlets connected with the subject which we possess. In consequence of the necessity of securing by purchase such works as these of the two classes mentioned, and the payment of the sums due on subscriptions to annual periodicals for both departments of the library, the sum remaining for purchases, especially approved of by the trustees in their ordinances of 1879, is very small. Almost nothing can be economized for the purchase of books of general reference. To make this remainder of money bring in the largest number of books at the least expense, greater parsimonionsness has to be exercised than would be used by the majority of private collectors of libraries.
By means of special requests by letter, three hundred and fifty-six eulogies delivered on occasion of the death of President Garfield have been collected and arranged in fifteen volumes. Copies of newspapers to the number of 400, giving accounts of his death and funeral ceremonies, have been collected and bound in six volumes folio.
A donation has been made to the library by Vice-Chancellor George W. Clinton of a valuable collection of twenty-six bound volumes of uncommon and rare pamphlets. Purchases have been made during the year of very interesting additions to the library's collection of Clinton manuscripts; most of them being of an earlier date than any we formerly possessed. Our previous earliest date was the year 1768. Rev. Dr. Maunsel Van Rensselaer, of Geneva, has given to the library about forty-five manuscripts, letters, deeds, etc., of dates ranging from the year 1662 to 1706. The library has been so fortunate as to secure a copy of the aqua-tint engraving, made in New York city in the year 1780, representing the passage of Major Andre from the sloop of war Vulture towards a landing in Haverstraw bay on the Hudson river. The engraving was made from a pen-sketch made by Andre himself while imprisoned. The engraving is exceedingly rare ; it has now been hung over the frame which contains the papers found upon Andre when captured. The library has not been so fortunate as to have acquired possession of the Gov. Tompkins manuscripts, the purchase of which the trustees unqualifiedly recommended to the Legislature. Dr. Murray, the secretary, appeared with me before the Finance committee of the Senate, and the purchase was warmly recommended, but the committee did not report in favor of the purchase.
The shelving in the library for many years past has been so inadequate to receive the annual additions of books that repeated additions of new shelving have had to be made in every available space. For two years past unsuccessful efforts have been made to obtain a room in the new capitol for the storage of duplicates and of such books as are least in demand. Within two months considerable space has been secured in the room in the new capitol occupied by Vice-Chancellor Clinton, in which we have piled up many hundreds of volumes of old files of newspapers which had been lying upon the floors of the two galleries. In those galleries we have built cases of plain unpainted boards, with shelves wide enough for four rows deep of books on each shelf, which we think will hold over nine thousand volumes, at a cost of less than two hundred dollars. By this device we shall be relieved of much embarrassment, although we still shall need a room in the new capitol for the accommodation of our duplicates and our stock of books for exchanges, which are now chiefly in the old capitol. As the old capitol will be torn down before rooms are ready for the State library in the new capitol, it is desirable that through the trustees, temporary accommodation should be sought for these in some room not otherwise appropriated.
The book-binder who has been employed in the library for fifteen years past having left our employment, we are having our binding executed by the different binders of the city for the past few months. Sufficient time has not elapsed to show whether it costs the institution more to obtain the same results than it cost when we employed a binder; but it is plain that the convenience and saving of time to the librarians are considerable when a binder is employed in the building.
The volume forming the first supplement subject-index to the contents of the books added to the General Library during the last ten years after having been completed, printed and bound, was brought into use in the library about the first of November, and forms a volume of over 400 pages. If the same amount of analysis and classification could have been applied to the contents of the library as it existed in 1872, the subject-index of that year instead of filling a volume of 600 pages would have filled a volume of 2,000 pages.
The titles in this supplement, brief as they are, are more full and contain more information for the student than did those in the index of 1872. A more full account of the character of the volume and of the pains taken to make it useful, will be found in the preface to the book.
The trustees are aware that a large volume of three thousand closely printed columns has just been issued from the press with the title of Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature being an index to the subjects of a literary and public character discussed in the English and American literary periodicals chiefly of the last one hundred years down to the year 1882. This has been done with the co-operation of the librarians of fifty libraries in this country and England, and they have indexed the subjects treated of in 205 different periodicals. It will be a gratifying fact to the trustees to learn that the State library in both of its departments already possesses more than three-quarters of the periodicals indexed in this work, while those which it possesses are generally the most important ones on the list. In anticipation of the demand which would arise for the purchase of sets of these periodicals when this great work should appear, I have been anxious to secure speedily such as we had not upon our shelves ; and I have lately obtained from England and in this country additions of important sets of reviews and magazines for this portion of our library.
Looking forward to the time which is gradually approaching when the library will have been deposited in its new home on the west side of the capitol, I have the feeling that the library should hence-forward be administered on a basis of fresh regulations, which should be conformed to such principles as are the result of the greatly enlarged experiences in connection with libraries of all classes, and with our State library in particular, during the last thirty years. The whole body of the new regulations to be drawn up should be so complete and untrammeled that it would be necessary to disregard the State laws by which the library was regulated before its transfer to the care of the Regents of the University. Although the legislature has given the trustees the power to make all needful regulations for the library, yet the regulations existing previous to the transfer have rarely been repealed. As no regulation adopted, which would be inconsistent with a statute, would set it aside, and as there, are statutes which would conflict with such modes of using the library as are desirable, it would be necessary to secure the repeal of all such statutes simultaneously with the adoption of a new code of rules.
One of the chief embarrassments in devising and applying regulations for the use of the State library, which has been pre-eminently a reference library for researches within its walls, is the desire to obtain books from its shelves for home use. Much which is now allowed and tolerated under certain forms, and which is desirable in [Assembly Doc No. 28.] many respects, is without any specific authority under the laws or the regulations.
Hoping next year to submit to the trustees the plan of a new set of rules, I desire previously to put upon paper some thoughts for their consideration of a new departure with respect to the State library, and without their opinion on my proposal previously expressed it would be impossible for me to draft a consistent body of rules. I would suggest that a certain sum of money be expended every year, commencing with five hundred dollars for the first year, to be used for the purchase of books for a circulating library for the use of all the officers of the government at the capitol with their families. During four months of the year there are three hundred clerks in the service of the State at the capitol, and more than half of that number continue in Albany during the, whole year. These clerks also many of them have their families with them. If these persons have privileges in using the library extended to them, it will be to them a boon of great utility, and be welcomed by them as a great resource for their leisure hours. The value of the library in the estimation of the community would be greatly enhanced.
If a certain portion of the library were made thus easily accessible for general circulation with members of the Legislature, State officers and clerks, it seems to me that the remainder of the library might more properly be treated as specifically a library of books of reference which were never to be taken out of the library without special precautionary rules. It would no longer be necessary to have the provision giving the Legislature, the courts and the trustees a poorly defined right to draw books from the library, which really excepts from that privilege more than two-thirds of the works in the library. Then all concerned could freely draw books from the circulating portion of the library, while some of the books in the specific reference portion might be drawn for use in the capitol, or on the deposit of twice the money value or other similar provisions. I could enlarge much upon this new proposed scheme, but am satisfied to leave it at this point for the consideration of the trustees without further remark.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY A. HOMES.
REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF THE LAW LIBRARY.
To the Regents of the University of the State of New York :
The law department of the library has been increased during the year 1882 by the addition of 953 volumes. The additions have been principally continuations of American and British reports, statutes, law periodicals and standard elementary works.
The use of the books in this department of the library has been greater than that of any previous year. More than the usual number of volumes have been delivered to the judges of the Court of Appeals and to the various State officers, for temporary use in the discharge of their respective official duties.
The assistant in the Law Library has prepared a general index to the collection of 786 volumes of cases and points in causes heard in the Court of Appeals of this State from 1847 to 1882. This colletion is in daily use, and with the aid of the index the papers in any cause may be readily found.
The preparation of the subject-index catalogue authorized by chapter 306 of the Laws of 1881, has so far progressed that it will be ready for the printer in the course of the summer of the present year, and will embrace all the treatises, reports and periodicals contained in the law department at the close of the year 1882.
Respectfully submitted,
STEPHEN B. GRISWOLD,
Librarian of the Law Library.
State Library, Albany, Jan. 6, 1882.
Sixty-Fifth Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Library, For the Year 1882. TRANSMITTED TO THE LEGISLATURE JANUARY 11, 1883. ALBANY: Weed, Parsons and Company, Printers (1883) [Full Text Archive.org]
For the details of the additions to the library the trustees refer the Legislature to the list of books and pamphlets received by donation or exchange during the year 1882, and the catalogue of additions which are appended to the report.
The trustees also herewith transmit the reports made to them by the librarians of the general and law libraries, giving full particulars as to the progress and present condition of the collections under their care. These reports will show how much has been accomplished with the means placed at the disposal of the trustees. The library has grown to be one of the most valuable and useful in the country, and it has become so by an expenditure so limited as to be quite disproportionate to its value. During the past two years the trustees have felt very plainly the inadequacy of the appropriation for the support of the library. It is found impossible in the law department to keep the tables supplied with the important periodicals which the courts and the lawyers call for. In the special lines in which it has been found expedient to develop the general library, the material constantly offering far exceeds the means afforded for purchase. Not only has the material in these lines become more abundant, but its cost has greatly advanced.
A supplement to the subject-index of the general library published in 1872, which has been for some time in preparation, has been issued during the past year. It forms a volume of 414 pages, and it is believed will add greatly to the utility of collection. A corresponding supplement is in preparation to the catalogue of the law library which it is hoped will be completed during the coming year.
Under laws enacted at various times, the remainders of the editions of the several volumes of the documentary and colonial histories have been handed over to the Regents of the University for the purposes of literary exchange. It is believed that all who by any law or right were entitled to these volumes by free distribution have been supplied, and that what remain may now be used for the benefit of the library. The editions of many of the volumes are completely exhausted, and it is no longer possible to make up sets. Under these circumstances the trustees have deemed it their duty to transfer the entire remaining stock of these volumes to the library to form a part of its duplicates, and to be sold or exchanged for its benefit under the laws relating thereto. In making this transfer of course the rights of those who may still have a legal claim for volumes of the set have been protected.
The trustees call the attention of the Legislature to the report herewith transmitted of the Honorable George W. Clinton, who by appointment of the trustees is engaged upon the work of indexing and editing the Clinton papers. Most satisfactory progress has been made during the year, and the value and interest of the collection of papers become more apparent as the work progresses. The trustees respectfully commend the work to the fostering care of the Legislature, and can give the fullest assurance that the material which is thus prepared for publication will prove of the utmost historical interest.
The historical documents transferred to the custody of the trustees of the State Library by chapter 120 of the Laws of 1881, have been continued during the past year in the special charge of Mr. Berthold Fernow. They still remain in one of the rooms of the State hall.
When the library is transferred to its new quarters in the Capitol, the documents will then be consolidated with the other collections. Chapter 295 of the Laws of 1882 provided that the commissioners of the Capitol should prepare plans for the proper accommodation of the State Library, and should submit such plans to the trustees of the library for their approval. These plans were prepared accordingly and submitted, and after mature consideration and the introduction of suggested modifications, were duly approved. They provide quarters for the library on the west front of the building where it is believed it will have ample room not only for its present wants but for its legitimate increase.
The staff of the library has continued without change up to the end of the year and will be found prefixed to this report.
Respectfully submitted,
HENRY R. PIERSON, Chancellor.
David Mubeay, Secretary.
REPORT ON THE GEORGE CLINTON PAPERS. By George W. Clinton
To the Regents of the University :
The undersigned, to whom was committed the duty of indexing and editing the George Clinton Papers, etc., is sorry to be compelled to report that, with his utmost diligence, he has been able only to extract from the Clinton papers full materials for the body of the Index, excepting only assured notes of the contents of two ancient Dutch documents, one Spanish and two or three French letters. Prof. Pearson, of Union College, has kindly consented to furnish translations of the Dutch documents, and translations of the Spanish and of the French letters can easily be procured. The by no means inconsiderable task of verifying and correcting these memoranda and of forming from them a compact but very full index of this large collection of papers, remains to be performed. The contents of these papers are very various, but, in the main, they present the chiefest items of the history of our State during the whole period of the war of the Revolution, with innumeruus events and incidents which general history is unable to record, but which tend strongly to bring before us the character of our then people and inform us of their intelligence and love of liberty. They are permeated by the spirit of those dreadful times, and are full of those touches of nature which make the whole world kin. Not one of the thirteen States was an equal sufferer with New York, and not one was more noble in suffering, or more active, persistent and efficient in devotion to the common cause. Despoiled of her chief city and cut off from communication with the sea at almost the beginning of the war, she was subjected almost continually to invasions from the north and from the south so bloody and unsparing that loyalty faltered in her north east, and Schenectady, near the close of the war, became her frontier post upon the west. From all sides to the very centre of the territory that was left to her, and from within herself she was harassed by the depredations of organized bands of tory robbers. Surely the wisdom and stern virtues of our people which, amid such instant and appalling dangers "plucked the flower safety," and the unfailing alacrity with which they guarded the passes of the Highlands, whose capture by the enemy might well have produced a fatal issue of the war, deserve to be recorded in their minutest proofs and incidents. These papers embody many such proofs and incidents, and I doubt not throw light upon the characters and histories. of actors, conspicuous and inconspicuous, in that eventful war. It is not for me to judge the men who were serviceable to our country in those times, They were an outgrowth of the people and consonant with them in spirit. History establishes the fact that, with very few if any exceptions, no people has been rescued from oppression, or elevated in the scale of nations, save by their own action. In their need they have invoked--- may say created---the heroes and the sages who, with their support and the blessing of Almighty God, vindicated their rights and led them upward.
The Index, when completed, ought to be clearly engrossed and kept with the papers---every item of information in which it will make easily accessible. It will be very voluminous, and I can see at present no special good to flow from printing it. But it will be, if it prove to be such an one as I am aiming to make it, an essential aid in attaining the end the Legislature had in view in providing for its preparation. It is indispensable to the easy and thorough examination of this very large and miscellaneous collection, for the purpose of selecting from it such matter as it is desirable to publish, and in preparing an index for that selection. That the collection does contain a very large number of papers worthy of publication I am persuaded.
It consists of some few private and professional business papers of George Clinton, which, so far as they show current prices, the habits and customs of the people, the manners and business methods of the times, and are connected with his personal history, are of some value ; of some few purely family and friendly letters, and three or four from Du Simitiere, of Philadelphia, a man of science and a would-be historian of America, and these have for me at least some interest ; of George Clinton's correspondence touching all the incidents and movements of the war, and all the great subjects of
Policy and government which had to be considered and acted upon during and immediately subsequent to the war, such as the defenses of the Highlands, rebelling and returning the assaults of the enemy, the embargo of our grain and cattle and applying them to the support of the Continental army, the crippling and banishment of enemies of the country, the prevention and punishment of illicit intercourse with the enemy, the repression of crimes and enforcement of law, the extradition of fugitives from justice, the finances and government of the State and the expedients, often strained beyond plain justice, to enable it to meet the requisitions of the Federal Congress, the conduct of the customs before the Constitution of the United States was adopted, the defects of the articles of confederation, the merits of the Constitution as proposed and the need of its amendment when adopted, and the dangerous and impolitic secrecy of the Senate of the United States, in short almost every thing in which the interests of the people and the honor and safety of the State and nation were or were supposed to be involved. Then, too, it embraces a portion of George Clinton's correspondence with Genet, with the French Consuls in New York city, with our own government and with Monroe during a portion of the French
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