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WILLIAM L'CLEMENTS
LIBRARY OF AMERICANA
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY
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COPYRIGHT, 1923
BY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PRINTED FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
AT THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASS., U. S. A.




Preface


T     HE purpose of this book is to give information
to those interested in this Library. Within a
few pages, it is quite impossible to furnish even a
short list of books pertaining to some of the chapters. The writer had contemplated issuing a
" Check List" of all the titles in the Library, rather
than the synopsis of important books here presented. The proposed list would have placed the
book in the range of bibliography, but this plan was
abandoned because of the fact that such a list,
while giving desirable bibliographical information,
would not fulfil other purposes. Consequently, the
book may not interest bibliographers; neither will
the advanced student of history find in these pages
new information. But it is hoped that this work,
even if only fairly well done, will interest those who
fain would learn of the sources whence came much
of what we know about our own country.
The mention of the title of a book means little
unless the reader is sufficiently informed to weigh
its value and place it in proper relation to others of
its kind. In this weighing of values and classification much study is required, and the separation of
the important and truthful from the less important
compilations is the combined task of the historian
and bibliographer. An effort has been made to give




iv


PREFACE


an opinion of the importance which time has placed
upon the productions of the many writers mentioned. The brief narratives of historical happenings, into which the titles of the source books and
authorities are interwoven, familiar though such
narratives may be, will perhaps lead to new interest
and to a desire by the student or reader for further
information. Thus it is hoped that, with the books
available in the Library, new inquiries may be one
result of this publication.
Of the many works mentioned herein, and of
many more on the subject to which no attention
has been given, I may say that this is my selection;
I also have decided opinions about the other books.
Selection is a matter of judgment, and it is the hope
of the writer that all readers will find herein sufficient information to enable them to reach a conclusion as to what the Library as a whole contains.
The material is of source, secondary, compilation,
and manuscript kinds, which may serve for more
intensive research of the many phases of American
History. Let the earnest investigators, and particularly those at the University of Michigan who
have exhausted the facilities of the General Library,
come and drink of all the knowledge stored upon
the shelves of this Library.
Something should be said about the formation of
the Library. In Bay City, Michigan, from the
year i867 to i908, lived Mr. Aaron J. Cooke, a merchant and bibliophile. His feeling of love for his




PREFACE


v


books and his ever-ready exposition of the significance of the important ones in his library, made
him a man of interest to those who were in any way
associated with him, and led to strong friendships
with other book-lovers.
All collections must have their beginnings, and
in I9o3 the foundation of this one was made by the
purchase of Mr. Cooke's library. It contained
about a thousand volumes, mostly well selected histories of the thirteen original states, together with a
few books of discovery, using Hakluyt of the year
I6oo and the Eden of I577 as focal books. Many of
these volumes were from the library of William
Menzies, sold in 1875, and those who know about
his books will realize that these acquisitions were
sure to be most beautiful and perfect copies. The
sale catalogue:, the best ever prepared by one of the
greatest bibliographers of the time, Joseph Sabin,
discloses the fact that Menzies never had an ordinary copy of any book. There was a harmony and
method in the formation of the Cooke collection
which study revealed, and interest in it was soon
strengthened. Under Mr. Cooke's guidance, until
his death, the Library was conservatively added to
whenever important books were offered in the auction sales or book market.
This rather uneventful accumulative process continued until the spring of I9II, when the first part
of the famous library of Robert Hoe was offered
at auction in New York, followed shortly after by




vi


PREFACE


the other parts. No library had been sold in America equal to it. Richest in manuscripts, incunabula,
and English literature, it also contained many rarities in American History. The sales were events:
dealers, collectors, and librarians from Europe and
the States were in keen competition for the treasures. The sale realized two millions of dollars -
an amount for a private library never before
reached either in England or America. From that
time book values were placed upon a new plane.
The unprecedented sum of fifty thousand dollars
was paid for a Gutenberg Bible, and for an early
manuscript thirty-five thousand dollars. Most of
the Hoe books remain to this day in America, absorbed principally by two collectors. Some were
purchased, however, by dealers and other individuals. The result to this Library was the addition of
some twenty rare books.
The Library made other important acquisitions
simultaneously with the dispersal of the Hoe books.
In 1911 and continuing until 1914 the famous English library of Henry Huth was sold in nine instalments, realizing, without the sections privately
sold, nearly two hundred and eighty thousand
pounds. From this quarter, through private agreement, the collection of the first editions of Hulsius
was secured. Altogether, through various channels,
the Library added some hundred and fifty Huth
titles, all in the perfect condition usual with his
books. Of the earlier Americana collectors whose




PREFACE


vi
1l


books found their way to the auction rooms, items
from the Brinley, Barlow, Lefferts, Ives, and French
libraries were acquired at different times.
The outbreak of the war in I914, together with
the entrance of Mr. Henry E. Huntington into the
book market some years earlier, but now more
actively as a purchaser of several English libraries
en bloc, led to a remarkable situation. In rapid succession the Rowfant, Devonshire, Bridgewater, and
the first parts of the Britwell or Christie-Miller,
libraries were brought to America. Later sections
of the Britwell and the major portion of the Burdett-Coutts libraries have found their way across
the Atlantic:; and although during the last two years
but little Americana has appeared, the earlier importations were rich in it. An interesting story
might be told of the many auction sales occurring in
New York from the year 1915 to I920, and of the
career of George D. Smith, spectacular to the end
- the dealer who was given the title of "The Quaritch of America." The writer attended many of
these sales. It would seem that a large proportion
of the rare books of England were brought to the
United States. The offering at auction or private
sale of the many duplicates resulting from the consolidation of these great libraries by one man resulted in an inundation of treasures. No sales
approaching them, except the Hoe, had ever taken
place in America. It is true that throughout this
period high prices prevailed, but certainly there




*i*i
Vlll


PREFACE


was the opportunity of acquirement the like of
which is not likely to occur again! Dealers, collectors, and librarians were liberal buyers, and the
many accessions made by the latter permanently
put out of the market their acquired rarities.
These sales were fruitful sources of growth for
this Library, both through direct bids or afterwards
through dealers. The suppressed offerings of many
previous years, at auction and private sales, were
concentrated into the period of the war. The Jones,
Herman Edgar, Wallace, Benedict, and other less
important collections, were sold, and some of their
Americana is now on the shelves of this Library.
The famous White or "Nugget Sale" also furnished
some very rare books.
Largely through the interest of Mr. Bishop and
the General Library of the University, the Board of
Regents in December, I922, purchased the celebrated library of the late Henry Vignaud of Paris.
The strongest section of it relates to the Discovery
Period of American History. By a satisfactory
financial agreement, such portions as are desirable
will be added to this Library. The Vignaud library
is a noted one and I prefer to give Mr. Bishop's
description of it:
"The purchase was made with the purpose of
adding to his [the William L. Clements] Library
those portions which supplement that collection,
the remainder going to the General University Library. This purchase was effected through the well



PREFACE                 ix
known firm of Edouard Champion of Paris, in fulfilment of Mr. Vignaud's wish that his library should
be placed in some American university where it
would serve to advance the cause of American historical studies;.
" Mr. Vignaud made no catalogue of his library,
which numbered roughly about seventeen thousand
volumes, over twenty-five thousand pamphlets, and
nearly three thousand maps. It is impossible 'therefore to describe his books in detail until they are
arranged and catalogued. In general it may be said
that the part devoted to American History is about
two thirds of the library. There are perhaps about a
thousand volumes which may properly be described
as source material. The rest is a mass of critical
studies of a later date, ranging from very ordinary
books to very uncommon books and brochures on
obscure phases of the period of discovery and exploration of the American continent. They will supplement in a very unexpected and unusual fashion the
library of sources which Mr. Clements has gathered.
" Mr. Vignaud's interest (as shown in his writings and in his library) appears to have been most
keenly directed toward the history of geographical
discovery. In writing his various books on Columbus and the discovery period he gathered a mass of
minor writings - and many of great moment. His
books caused a host of writers to send him their
publications. His library, then, gives exactly that
critical apparatus which is essential to scholarly




x


PREFACE


study of the sources both printed and manuscript.
Moreover, he gathered assiduously the classical and
medieval authorities in geography and cosmography, many early atlases, and the records of voyages
before and after Columbus. His books are chiefly
in Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish. They form,
therefore, a most welcome and in many respects a
very unusual addition to the resources in the early
period of American History."
While in France during 1921, I received information of the forthcoming sale of the Shelburne Papers, which later led to their acquirement. No attempt at a calendar of them has been made, except
the one prepared for the English Historical Manuscripts Commission. This will be one of the first
tasks for the Custodian of the Library.
Unusual interest and generosity has been manifested by the descendants of the illustrious Shelburne, the family of the present, fifth, Lord Lansdowne, and by Lord Fitzmaurice, the author of the
'Life of Shelburne.' That these papers are to be
preserved as a collection was to them welcome information. They have presented the Library with
a painting of the Earl of Shelburne, the first Lord
Lansdowne, whose papers we have. This was the
work of Jean Laurent Mosnier, a French portrait
painter of repute. The portrait was painted in
1790, when Shelburne was fifty-five years of age.
The portrait by Reynolds, painted earlier in life, is
in Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square, London.




PREFACE


xi


Through some twenty years, my friend and adviser, Mr. Lathrop C. Harper of New York, has
been of great: assistance, during the period of the
sale of the famous libraries already mentioned. His
good judgment of the scholarly importance of books
and of pecuniary values as well, has been given me
unsparingly, and in an unselfish way. Fully a third
of the Library has passed through his hands. The
first important purchase after the Cooke accession
was when I acquired through Mr. Harper the
greater part of the collection formed by Newbold
Edgar of Brooklyn, and he helped me to get many
books from the Crane library, dispersed in I9I3.
To Mr. Henry N. Stevens of London I am also
indebted for much good advice. He is responsible
for the formation of one of my sets of De Bry. Possibly of greater use, however, for students of later
American history, is his collection of pamphlets on
the Revolution, some twenty-two hundred in number, which were purchased in i920. Of great merit,
too, is the Stevens Collection of Maps of the Revolution, acquired in I92I. The Shelburne Papers
also were purchased by him at Sothebys in I92I.
For valuable advice from the standpoint of the
librarian, I am indebted to Mr. William W. Bishop
of the General University Library. He has the
true spirit for the conservation of rare books.
Professor Claude H. Van Tyne has made many
valuable suggestions concerning the work which the
Library can do in connection with the Department
of History at the University.




xii               PREFACE
And now a most important and personal acknowledgment must be made. A friend of some
ten years, whom I first visited at the John Carter
Brown Library at Providence, and later in the
Widener room at the Harvard College Library, is
George Parker Winship. He was given all the qualities of a great American collector, with the keenest
sense of the historical and aesthetic worth of rare
books. His advice has always been sought and
given, and naturally I turned to him for a review,
criticism, addition, or elimination, of the text of
this synopsis, which work he has performed. He
has been of immeasurable assistance to me, and in
addition he has supervised the work of printing.
In conclusion, it must be noted for a proper understanding of the contents of this Library that all
titles mentioned with the date and place of publication are on the shelves. Unless specifically stated
as 'in the Library,' other titles given without date,
or without place of publication, are not part of the
collection, but are mentioned as necessary for the
continuity of the narrative.
WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS
BAY CITY, MICHIGAN
May, I923




Contents
I. THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AND CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.....................        3
II. VESPUCCIUS AND THE EARLY HISTORIANS... I7
III. SPANISH CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES.... 28
IV. ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS........ 44
V. THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES......... 64
VI. THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA....... 76
VII.  VIRGINIA......................    92
VIII. THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH IN NEW ENGLAND.........................  i08
IX. THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY AND ITS
OFFSHOOTS......................     ii6
X. NEW ENGLAND RELIGIOUS MATTERS...... 127
XI. NATIVE NEW ENGLANDERS............ 141
XII. THE MIDDLE COLONIES............... i53
XIII. THE SOUTHERN COLONIES............. 170
XIV. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS........ 177
XV. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.......... 19i
XVI. PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION..... 204
XVII. NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES,
BY WILLIAM WARNER BISHOP........ 220








WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
OF AMERICANA








Chapter I


THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AND
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
AMUTINOUS sailor on the lookout of a SpanLI ish caravel, on October I2th, I492, announced
the appearance of land, which proved to be a New
World. His little ship was one of four commanded
by a persistent believer in new ideas about geography, whose confidence in these ideas made him
the first to demonstrate their truth. The condition
of learning and the spirit of the European world at
that time, the factors which prepared the way for
this momentous event, - the Discovery of America
by Columbus, - the greatest event in history since
the birth of the Christian religion, are subjects
proper for intensive consideration by all who wish
to understand. the development of civilization.
The causes which led to the most fruitful of all
voyages of discovery make a long and interesting
story. They involve the study of the history of
human progress during the two centuries which
witnessed the transformation of the medieval into
a modern world, the renaissance not of learning
alone but of all human relations. The event itself
is intimately involved with all the important cosmographical and geographical theories, indeed with
3




4


WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


everything in the nature of scientific inquiry during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. All these
seem to lead toward that final outburst of belief, of,'
which belief Columbus was a worthy, persistent, and
practical advocate. Clearly there is every reason
why all possible inquiries should continue to be
made about this man, the navigator who courageously commanded the expedition with unshaken
faith in his geographical ideas, and who, by estab-.
lishing their truth in fact instead of in theory, made
his name one of the greatest in all human history..
By him, and by those who followed the way he led,
the science of geography was completely reorganized, a New World was added to our sphere. Their
achievements constitute the first chapter - not
based on speculative opinions -of the history of
half the globe.
Every detail of the life of Columbus, so far as we
can learn it, is of importance, for he was the most
successful exponent of the latest geographical and
scientific theories of his time. His earliest biographer -his son Ferdinand, whose 'Vita de suo
padre,' was printed at Venice in I57I - tells us
that he corresponded with Paolo Toscanelli, reputed to be the leading geographer and cartographer of the time. He not only owned and studied
the narrative of Marco Polo, but the copy of the
'Imago Mundi' written by Pierre d'Ailly in which
the Discoverer made marginal annotations still exists in the library collected by his son, which is pre



THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY


5


served to this day at Seville. The charts he studied,
t.he books which are reputed to have influenced him
in forming his opinions, as well as everything that
concerns the geographers and cosmographers, the
mathematicians and travellers of the fifteenth century, necessarily interest those who undertake to
investigate this period of American Discovery.
Their manuscript charts and their printed works
are the beginnings of "Americana."
Many are the detractors of Columbus's greatness. That he was bigoted, at times unbearable to
live with, stubborn to his later associates, all seem
certain. That he imagined himself toward the end
of his long life the chosen of the Lord to administer
His wishes on earth, is a sign of a mind that became
unbalanced. But if patience, steadfastness of purpose, firm belief in carefully considered convictions,
are attributes of greatness, then Columbus was
great. I prefer to think of Columbus as the young
man struggling with a great idea. In documents
that have been dated not later than I470, he seems
to have stated his belief that the earth was round.
For twenty-two years he held to this belief unshaken, and persisted in his determination to prove
that it was true. Until his death in I5o6, and even
to-day, he was and he is the first figure in American
history.
'Modern' geography has been traced back to the
ideas propounded in the writings of Aristotle, who
died 322 B.C., and of Strabo, who wrote of his trav



6    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
els in the countries bordering on the Balkan Mediterranean at the beginning of the Christian era..
Claudius Ptolemy, or Ptolemaus, who wrote his
epochal treatise on geography a hundred and fifty
years after the birth of Christ, retained for nearly
fourteen hundred years his place as the acknowl-.
edged authority on this subject. The publication of
the writings of these three great scientific authorities, which had been handed down through the centuries in manuscript copies, was a potent factor in
the revival of interest in geographical subjects.
Marco Polo, the greatest of the mediaeval travellers, wrote an account of his experiences in Persia,
China, and the other Asiatic countries that he visited, which not only led to an increased inquiry into
geographical matters but also had great influence in
opening up trade between Europe and the East.
Columbus owned a copy of his narrative, and was
stimulated by it to persist in carrying out his ideas.
The Library has an edition of the Italian text 'de la
meravegliose cose del mondo,' printed at Venice in
I496.
Caius Julius Solinus was another author of the
early mediaeval period whose writings were circulated widely after the invention of printing, and
who continued to enjoy an authoritative popularity
for several decades following the extension of the geographical horizon to include the Western hemisphere. His description of the then known world
entitled 'Collectanea rerum memorabilium,' was




THE. SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY            7
revised in the sixth Christian century. Under the
briefer title of 'Polyhistor' it circulated widely during the ensuing centuries in the form of manuscript
copies. The Library contains one of these, a magnificent copy on vellum, written by a professional
scribe in northern Italy some time before the invention of printing. First printed in I473 by Nicholas
Jenson, it was reissued at least twelve times before
the end of that century. Of the three editions in
the Library the most significant is that which appeared at Vienna in I520, because some copies of
this edition contain a map, long thought to be the
earliest with the name "America," which was the
first cartographical publication of Peter Apian.
Even as late as I587, the 'Polyhistor' was a work
of interest, for in that year the first English translation was published in London, reappearing in
later editions, and under the title: 'The excellent
and pleasant work of Julius Solinus Polyhistor.'
The Library's copy is in its original vellum.
The name of Solinus was intimately associated
with that of Pomponius Mela, the author of the
earliest geographical treatise in classical Latin, who
flourished during the first Christian century. His
'Cosmographia,' or 'De situ orbis,' was issued at
least ten times during the fifteenth century. The
edition printed by Erhard Ratdolt at Venice in I482
is famous both for its decorative initial letters and
as one of the earliest examples of printing in more
than two colors, as well as because it was the first




8    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
edition of this work to contain a map. The scientific importance of Mela's work is such that it has
frequently been used as the basis for collections of
early geographical treatises. The Library has also
three other editions: Paris, I513; Venice, iIS8; and
Eton, 176I.
Of Ptolemy's 'Cosmographia' or Universal Geography some fifty different issues are described in
the bibliographical accounts of the work by Justin
Winsor, Wilberforce Eames, and Henry N. Stevens.
They date from the first printed edition of I475 to
that of I76I; in I867 a facsimile of the Mount Athos
manuscript was issued, but this is more properly
considered in connection with the manuscript copies, of which a number have come down to modern
times from before the age of printing. No other
work compares in importance with this for the
study of the science of geography and its evolution
from ancient theories and incorrect deductions into
a sound foundation for what is at present held to be
the true relationship of different features on the
earth's surface. The earlier editions contain twentyseven maps, which are of the highest importance
because they show exactly what must have been
the prevailing opinion concerning the various parts
of the world as it was known to Europeans on the
eve of the new era of discovery.
The most important of the editions of Ptolemy
is the one printed at Strassburg with the date 1513,
containing forty-seven woodcut maps. Of these,




THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY


9


twenty-seven repeat the ancient representations,
and the remaining twenty show what were then the
most up-to-date ideas about geographical matters.
These modern maps include one of the whole known
world, entitled, "Orbis typus universalis," and also
a " Tabula Terre Nove." The latter is copied from
one of the earliest maps that showed the new western discoveries. It has often been called " The Admiral's Map," from the belief that it was taken from
a map drawn by Columbus. The copy of this edition in the Library is in its contemporary binding
of oak boards and pigskin. Other editions were
printed at Venice in 1511; Strassburg in I520 and
I525; and Venice in I548. Closely allied to the
Ptolemy series is the exceedingly rare ' Introductio
in Ptholomei' by Joannes Stobnicza, printed at
Cracow in Poland in 1512.
Peter Apian, or Apianus, represents the early efforts to disseminate knowledge of the new conceptions of scientific geography, as completely as Ptolemy stands for the ideas which were supplanted.
For half a century the works of the writers mentioned in the preceding paragraphs continued to be
published, often with elaborate annotations by the
leading professors of geographical learning, side by
side with those of Apian and his fellow students of
the new school which was destined to relegate the
others to the limbo of antiquated scholarship.
A writer who should be consulted by those who
wish to understand the slow spreading of popular




IO  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


comprehension of what the seafarers were accomplishing for terrestrial geography, is Benedetto Bordoni, whose 'Libro nel qual si ragiona da tutte
l'Isole de Mondo' first came out at Venice in I528.
This work held its place until after the middle of
the century, as a standard handbook for those who
clung to the facts as they knew them in youth, and
yet realized that there was a New World and a
vast quantity of new facts, many of which must be
true.
Nothing illustrates the difficulties which confronted well-informed readers of the early sixteenth
century, who wanted to keep up with the times and
yet felt confident that everything old could not be
false, or everything new, true, better than a little
book which was printed at Venice in I558, entitled
'De I Commentarii del Viaggio in Persia di M.
Caterino Zeno. Et dello scoprimento dell Isole Frislanda, Eslanda, Engrouelanda, Estotilanda, Icaria,
fatto sotto il Polo Artico, da due fratelli Zeni.' It
was published by Nicolo Zeno the younger, and contains the narrative of the travels of two brothers of
his name, who appear to have visited Iceland and
Greenland in I380. There is no reason why well-todo and adventurous Venetians may not have made
such a trip at that date, but the published narrative
has been the subject for controversy at intervals
ever since itfirst appeared in print. Of late years the
discussions concern chiefly the map which was issued with the volume of I558. The trouble with




THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY


II


most of the controversialists is that they are unable
to comprehend, or unwilling to admit, that editorial and critical standards are, and ought to be, different in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
from those that were equally creditable three or
four hundred years earlier. The original publication, and the books about it by Richard H. Major
of the British Museum in the Hakluyt Society series, by Baron Nordenskj6ld, by F. W. Lucas, and
other writers on the subject, make an interesting
little group, which may profitably be studied by
those who wish to learn how and why historical controversies run their course.
Great events in the world's history had occurred.
Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in
I498; the limits of Africa were outlined from the
west as well as from the east; India was reached by
water; Columbus and Vespuccius and at least a
score of other voyagers established the fact that a
continent of unknown extent lay in the way of
reaching Cathay by sailing westward. All the theories of cosmographers as to terrestrial length and
breadth, as to continents, seas and islands, were upset. In I522 the survivors of Magellan's fleet -a
single ship manned by eighteen men - returned to
Spain with the story of how they had found a passageway through the Western continent into the
South Sea; of crossing that vast ocean and finding
countless islands in its further expanse, through
which they made their way until at last they came




12   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
to India and the ports already reached by Europeans who had come from the opposite direction.
Freed from uncertainty, the first circumnavigators
continued their westward course to Africa, rounded
the Cape of Good Hope, and brought the Victoria
safely home to Spain - an event not to be equalled
in its influence upon the popular imagination until,
not quite four hundred years later, the Atlantic was
crossed through the air.
The first printed account of Magellan's voyage
around the world is given in Maximilianus's 'De
Moluccis Insulis,' Cologne, 1523, a source book of
considerable historical value. It was written by the
secretary of Charles V and addressed to the Archbishop of Salzburg. Henry Stevens, in his 'Johann
Sch6ner,' London, 1888, reproduces this book in facsimile and gives an English translation. Antonio
Pigafetta, who accompanied Magellan, wrote a
journal of the same voyage, of which Jacques Antoine Faber published an abridgment in 1525, the
original having been lost.
These were startling events, of such import as to
give great opportunity for a substantial beginning
in the new science of modern geography, and Peter
Apian was equal to the occasion. Ptolemy and
Mela and the others, whose writings for more than
twelve hundred years had been the accepted compendium of cosmographical knowledge, became the
relics of an absurd antiquity. Their place was
taken by the textbooks of Apian, to which the stu



THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY


I3


dent can still go and find them sound in the essentials of theory and of fundamental facts.
The Library possesses two of Apian's publications which are not recorded as being in any other
American collection. One of these, which is not
mentioned by Winsor or by any other American
bibliographer, is his 'Isagoge,' dated at Landzhut
in ISI5, and his earliest printed work. Concerning
this book, Henry N. Stevens of London, after making a careful study of it, wrote: " I expected to find,
as suggested by Nordenskjold, that it contained a
description of the well-known Apianus map, 'Tipus
Orbis Universalis' of I520 as found in the Solinus
'Polyhistor' of that year. But on a careful study
of the ' Isagoge ' I find it describes an entirely different map, which so far as I can ascertain still remains unknown.... There is a long reference to the
unknown map described in it. I have never met before with a copy of this rare and important book;
there is no copy in the British Museum and Van
Ortroy (in his excellent bibliography of the works
of Apianus), whilst referring to copies preserved in
libraries at Berlin, Munich, Paris, Rome, and Vienna, was apparently unable to locate one in an
English or American library."
The other work of Apianus not known to be in
any other American collection is his 'Astronomicum Caesareum,' printed at Ingolstadt in I540. It
is a large folio, bound in contemporary vellum, with
many volvetts and colored diagrams. Its impor



14    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
tance may be gathered from the following note
transcribed from the copy in the library of the
Royal Astronomical Society:
The principal intention of this celebrated work was to exhibit the positions of the celestial bodies by a series of movable planispheres, as an easier method than by the then tedious operation of tabular numbers and calculations. But the
part of the volume the most interesting to astronomers of the
present day, is that containing the observations and diagrams
of the five comets which were seen in the years 153I, I532,
1533, 1538, and 1539. From Apian's remarks on these it appears that he was the first astronomer who concluded that the
Tails of Comets were always projected in an opposite direction
to the Sun. The Comet of the year 153I, the first of the five
here mentioned, and upon which Apian has been most particular in describing its appearance and situation, is the celebrated Comet of Halley. The present year I835 is made
memorable as the Epoch of the fourth return of this wonderful phenomenon since the time of its being observed by Apian;
an interval of three hundred years having elapsed since this
valuable record was made by him. From the Observations
stated in this volume, and the subsequent returns of the
Comet in I607 and I682 Halley was enabled to identify its
orbit, to determine its theory, and thence its future visitations.
The works of Apian are significant because they
established in the minds of contemporary scholars,
of professors and students at the Continental universities, and of individuals who were in touch with
academic circles, the scientific conceptions based
upon what was actually happening in the world of
discovery. These same contemporary events were




THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY


Is


made known to the wider circle of general readers
by books of a more popular character. The most
famous of these, as well as one of the very earliest,
is the bulky 'Nuremberg Chronicle,' a history of
the world compiled by Hartmann Schedel, a physician of that town. It was issued in I493 by Anton
Koberger, a founder of the long line of great German publishers. The surviving account books show
that he placed the volume on sale in nearly every
important European city, and that it was still on
the market twenty years after its first appearance.
The statements it contains referring to the discoveries of Martin Behaim are untrue, but they serve
both to show the form in which the great news had
reached the Rhine Valley in the year of the return
of Columbus,, and also how this news was spread
abroad. Another book, the best-seller of the last
fifteenth-century decade, was Sebastian Brant's
'Ship of Fools,' Strassburg, I497, from which probably even more people got their earliest notion of
the trans-Atlantic discovery. Thirty-four editions
of this work wvere issued, in Latin, German, French,
English, and Spanish, between I494 and I5oo.
Fewer people, but nevertheless a considerable
number, read the news of what Columbus had done
in what is still its most authentic form. This is the
letter written by the discoverer to his friend the
Royal Treasurer at the Spanish court. The Spanish
text was printed at least twice, by Barcelona printers, almost immediately after it reached the court.




i6   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Each is now known by only a single copy; one, in
small quarto, is preserved at the Ambrosian library
in Milan, and the other, a two-leaf folio equivalent
to the newspaper extra of later days, is the cornerstone of the Americana collection associated with
the name of James Lenox and now a part of the
New York Public Library.
A Latin version of the Columbus letter reached
Rome within a few weeks, and the two leading
printers of the city,Stephan Plannck and Eucharius
Silber, issued three editions - the former two and
the latter one — before the public interest subsided. Within the year it had been reprinted at
Antwerp, at Basle, and thrice at Paris. There werelikewise three editions of an Italian version in the
same first year, and two in I495. The Library's
copy of one of the Latin editions from the press of
Plannck is typical of the appearance of all the
others. It came from the library collected by
Henry Huth, a London merchant with large interests in Spanish commerce. The text fills seven of
the eight pages, printed in a small gothic or " blackletter" character, there being thirty-three lines to
the page.
With this letter, in which Christopher Columbus
describes briefly his voyage, the islands he had discovered, and the people he found inhabiting them,
American History begins.




Chapter II
VESPUCCIUS AND THE EARLY HISTORIANS
rTHE five years following the discovery of America were fruitful ones in extending the horizon
of human knowledge. Columbus, - denied the
happy fate of death at the zenith of achievement,Vespuccius, Magellan, Balboa, and scores of other
masters of ships and of men, sailed in all directions,
pushing their way into unheard-of corners of the
earth, settling some questions of geography, and
raising more new ones for their successors to solve.
A new era, earlier begun, was in full progress.
Columbus died a sorely disappointed man. The
jealousy and the avarice of his associates and rivals,
the ingratitude of his sovereigns, the limitations of
his own capacities - human nature working as it
always has - prevented his enjoying the reward
he expected for the service he had rendered to Spain
and to Europe. Unlike Washington, the other
great figure in the annals of the New World, he was
not destined to have adequate reward during his
lifetime.
The next brightest light in the firmament of the
early voyagers; was Amerigo Vespucci or Americus
Vespuccius, of all men perhaps the greatest favorite
of Fame. No one can say that Vespuccius was not
17




I8   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
a successful voyager, who did whatever was expected of him as well as it could be done. Above all
else, he wrote satisfactory reports concerning what
he did and saw. One of these reports, or letters, was
so good that it was printed and reprinted many
times, and attracted the attention of those who
were following the course of events in distant parts.
A copy of the little tract, containing an authentic
account of what Vespuccius had observed on the
voyage which may have been actually the first to
touch on American continental soil, came to the attention of a teacher of geography at the academy at
St. Die. At this little town in the Vosges mountains
there had gathered in those earliest sixteenth-century years a small group of humanists, students
keenly interested in everything that is nowadays
associated with the revival of learning, the Renaissance of human interest in whatever makes for
culture. The geographer of the group, Martin
Waldseemiiller, who latinized his name into Hylacomylus, was engaged in editing a new edition of
Ptolemy's ' Cosmographia,' as well as in preparing
a wall map which should show the latest additions
to the known extent of the world. To accompany
this map, so that purchasers might better understand its many new features, he printed a small textbook with the explanatory title 'Cosmographiea
Introductio.' In this, he inserted a sentence of
extraordinary consequence: "But now that these
parts have been more extensively examined, and an



THE EARLY HISTORIANS


I9


other fourth part has been discovered by Americus
Vespuccius, I do not see why we should rightly refuse to name it America, to wit the land of Amerigen
or America, after its discoverer Americus, a man of
sagacious mind, since both Europa and Asia took
their names from women" -Arericam dicendam:
cum et Europa et Asia a mulieribus sua sortita sint
nomina.
America was christened by one whom we may
describe as a secondary schoolmaster in a remote
mountain town. His little 'Introduction to Geography' had an immediate success, for it was printed
three times during the year of its first appearance.
Another proof is the fact that its suggestion of the
fitting name for the New World - put out at a
moment when the European mind was bewildered
by the vast amount of newness that was being
added to the world with each recurring navigating
season - took so firm a hold on his contemporaries
that it is still unshaken.
The wall map of Waldseemuller likewise carried
this name, "America," on the continental shoulder
of South America which we now know as Brazil,
and helped powerfully to fix it indelibly in the European mind. A single copy of the map is known to
have survived to modern times, preserved at Wolfegg Castle in Germany, where it lay hidden until
the year I90o. Of the 'Introductio' the Library
contains the editions dated St. Die, September,
I507, and Strassburg, I509. There are two copies




20   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
of the latter, one from the Huth library and the
other an interesting copy in contemporary binding
decorated with the emblems of King Henry VIII
and Catherine of Aragon. It was probably presented to some school library by the order of King
Henry, as was his custom.
It is a curious commentary on the element of
chance that entered into the naming of nearly half
the globe, that the person who proposed the name
apparently realized almost immediately that he had
done a terrible injustice to the man who was entitled to the honor of having his name perpetuated
in this way. The edition of Ptolemy's Geography
upon which Waldseemiiller was at work before
I507 did not come out until 1513, at Strassburg.
As was explained in a previous paragraph, it contains the famous " Admiral's Map," and on this
map, in the place where the editor six years before
had put the name " America," is a statement that
the honor of discovering the New World properly
belongs to Christopher Columbus. There are to-day
many Columbias, and many writers have bewailed
the injustice of the Continental name which so disproportionately emblazons the lesser exploits of
Americus Vespuccius; but the apparently harmless
little tract, written by the schoolmaster with the
best of intentions and only slightly incomplete information, had done its work for all time.
In contrast to the everlasting influence of the misinformed pedagogue is the virtual oblivion which




THE EARLY HISTORIANS


21


is the fate of many much more reliable works, such
as Martin Fernandez de Enciso's 'Suma de Geographia,' printed at Seville in I519. The author of
this important work was an experienced navigator
who had voyaged widely. His description of America was founded largely upon his personal observations or on the reports of men whose reliability he
could test by intimate acquaintance with them, during his frequent voyages across the Atlantic and his
residence in San Domingo.
The marvellous tales of Marco Polo and of Sir
John Mandeville, equally surpassing belief, and the
contemporary narratives of Bernard von Breydenbach, of Christopher Columbus, and Amerigo Vespucci, whetted the appetite of European readers for
tales of travel. Almost the earliest enterprising
editors and publishers who saw the chance to cater
to this demand by providing a volume of collected
narratives of foreign travel were Master Henrico
Vicentino and his son Zamaria, who issued at Vicentia in Italy, in the same year that the St. Die 'Cosmographia' was appearing on the other side of the
Alps, a volume entitled 'Paesi novamente retrovati.' Herein are gathered the narratives of the
voyages of Cadamosto, Vasco da Gama, Cabral,
Columbus, Pinzon, Corte Real, Vespuccius, and
documents relating to the exploration of the East
Indies. This work had a widespread influence by
enabling the public to realize the extent to which
these successive voyagers had enlarged the limits of




22   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the known world, and by giving the readers trustworthy notions of what all these newly discovered
regions were like. The first edition, now of the utmost rarity, was succeeded by many later ones, so
that this work became one of the most important
foundations upon which was built the structure of
general information. The Library's copy of the
first issue of the first edition is the Beckford copy,
long preserved at Hamilton Palace, whence it
passed into the hands of Bernard Quaritch in I882.
There are likewise in the Library the later editions
dated 50o8 and 1521.
The first historian of America was Peter Martyr,
or Pietro Martire Anghiera. He knew Columbus,
Vespuccius, and many of their contemporaries, and
later investigators have found him a truthful recorder and intelligent commentator on events. He
was a member of the Council of the Indies, the official committee of the Spanish Government which
administered the overseas domain for the Spanish
crown. This position gave him an unequalled opportunity for securing intimate, first-hand knowledge of what was actually accomplished and of who
deserved the credit for achievements. By his contemporaries he was highly regarded, and time has
strengthened that confidence in the essential truth
of his narrative. He called his book, which was
chronologically arranged, the 'Decades.' In this he
recapitulated his interviews and the correspondence
he had had with the actual actors in the events of




THE EARLY HISTORIANS


23


those momentous years. To possess on the shelves
of this Library, if possible, all the writings of Peter
Martyr, in their successive editions, has been an
ambition steadily held, and very nearly consummated, during the years that it has accumulated.
There is no other author whose works are more
essential to a knowledge of the beginnings of New
World history.
The earliest edition of the First Decade, containing the first nine books or sections, was published
at Seville in I 5I I. The'Legatio babylonica,' which
is an important portion of this volume, is an account of Martyr's diplomatic mission to Egypt.
The copy in the Library is in what is probably its
original binding, on the sides of which are the arms
of the Marquis de Fromista-y-Caracena. This
Decade was reprinted at Alcala in I516, with the
addition of the Second and Third Decades, in a
volume entitled 'De Orbe Novo Decades,' which is
said to be even scarcer than that of 1511. It was
published at the instance of Pope Leo X. The Library's copy came from the same old library as the
first edition, and contains the account of the Egyptian mission, which was not issued with all copies.
Another edition of the Decades appeared at Basle
in 1533. This is in the original vellum covers, bound
up with another Basle work issued a year earlier,
the 'Novus Orbis' compiled by John Huttich and
Simon Grynaeus, which contains the important and
interesting map prepared by these two authorities
on New World annals, in its earliest state.




24    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
In I52I appeared at Basle 'De Nuper sub D.
Carolo repertis Insulis, simulque incolarum moribus, R. Petri Martyris, Enchiridion.' This account
of the newest additions to the empire of Charles the
Fifth is of exceptional importance, because it contains the earliest account of the exploits of Hernan
Cortes in Mexico.
Martyr's work was completed in eight Decades,
which first appeared together in an edition atAlcala,
I530. The whole work was reprinted at Paris in
the year 1587, 'diligenti temporum observatione, et
utilissimis annotationibus illustrata, suoque nitori
restitutae, Labore et industria Richardi Hakluyti
Oxoniensis Angli.' Herein we meet for the first but
not the last time the greatest of English students of
exploration. Not only is this the best edition of
Martyr, but it is illustrated by a beautiful little map
engraved on copper under Hakluyt's supervision.
This map is one of the landmarks in the annals of
geographical exploration. Despite its small scale it
is the best representation of just what was known to
well-informed Europeans at that time. The copy
in the Library came from the collection of perhaps
the greatest of Hakluyt's successors, who wrote on
the fly-leaf, "Henry Harrisse: with the rarissima
map! The choicest collections of Americana: Huth,
Brinley, Carter Brown, etc., do not possess it."
The Latin editions of Martyr's 'De Orbe Novo'
quickly found their way into the hands of learned
readers throughout Europe. But the transforma



THE EARLY HISTORIANS


25


tion of the rnediaeval into the modern world was already well on its way, and there was even at that
early date a very considerable reading public that
wanted its books in the vernacular tongues. A
translation into French of Martyr's second and
third Decades, with the 'De Insulis,' was published at Paris in I532, with the title 'Extrait ou
Recueil des Isles nouvellement trouvees.' This
earliest French collection of voyages is from the
famous press of Simon de Colines, the patron of the
greatest of book-decorators, Geofroy Tory. Two
years later an Italian translation appeared at Venice, including a portion of Oviedo's work as well as
an abridgment of the Decades.
Hakluyt's edition of Martyr was a deserved tribute to the author to whom not only the editor but
his fellow countrymen were chiefly indebted for
their knowledge of, and their interest in, the newly
discovered world. For half a century this knowledge and interest had not spread beyond a narrow
circle of English readers of imported books, whose
neighbors gave no sign that they either knew or
cared about any of these things which were familiar
in every Continental centre. The greatest of all
peoples were yet to be aroused by the spirit of adventure, inspired by the thirst for facts about
strange lands. The awakening of these dormant
interests was directly due to the first English translation of Peter Martyr.
Edward Arber, to-day the Nestor of those who




26   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
have labored to popularize acquaintance with old
English narratives of adventure, published in I885
an important volume containing 'The First Three
English Books on America.' The earliest of these
is a little tract printed at Antwerp before I5Io, of
which only a single copy is now known to existin the British Museum. Its title is 'Of the Newe
landes and of ye people founde by the messengers of
the Kynge of Portyngale named Emanuel.' The
other two were both issued by the scholar and man
of science who prepared the way for Hakluyt,
Richard Eden. The two titles are 'A treatyse of
the newe India, with other new founde landes and
Ilandes, as well eastwarde as westwarde, as they are
knowen and found in these oure dayes, after the
descripcion of Sebastian Munster, in his boke of
Universall Cosmographie: wherin the diligent
reader may see the good successe and rewarde of
noble and honeste enterpryses' [London, 1553], and
'The Decades of the newe worlde or West India,
conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the
Spanyardes, with the particular description of the
moste ryche and large landes and Ilandes lately
founde in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of the Kinges of Spayne ' [London, 1555].
The 'Treatyse' is an exceedingly rare work, and
the Library, whose copy bears the stamp of a British Museum duplicate, is believed to have only a
single rival in the possession of a copy in the Western world. The English 'Decades' of I555 is only




THE EARLY HISTORIANS


27


less rare than the volume of two years earlier. It is
the earliest English collection of voyages, containing, besides the first three 'Decades' and the 'De
Insulis' of Peter Martyr, important portions from
the works of Oviedo, the Maximilianus Magellan
tract, Vespuccius, and G6mara. A second edition,
which is virtually a new work, was issued at London
as the 'History of Travayle,' in 1577, with many
new narratives replacing sections that had lost their
interest to English readers. In: 56I Eden published
a translation of the best contemporary Spanish
work on navigation, with the title 'The Arte of
Nauigation, conteynyng a compendious description
of the Sphere. Wrytten in the Spanyshe tongue by
Martin Curtes. Translated out of Spanyshe into
Englyshe by Richard Eden,' London, I56i. This
was supplanted fifteen years later, just before he got
out the second collection of voyages, by 'A very
necessarie and profitable booke concerning nauigation, compiled in Latin by Ioannes Taisnierus, a
publike professor in Rome. Translated into Englishe by Richarde Eden,' London, 1579.
The effect of these successive publications is best
described by Professor Arber - they made Eden
"The pioneer of British geographical research, the
very first of our naval chroniclers and the herald
and fore-runner of all our subsequent discoveries
and victories at sea."




Chapter III
SPANISH CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES
T   o the casual reader of history, two books stand
out as unsurpassed for intense interest, not to
be laid aside until finished, as marvellous as the
tales of the 'Arabian Nights,' and surpassing these
because they tell of wonders achieved without the
magic interposition of genii - Prescott's 'Conquest
of Mexico' and his 'Conquest of Peru.' The events
described in these two works so often challenge belief, that many readers regard them as scarcely distinguishable from fiction. It may well be doubted
whether these readers ever think of just what actually occurred during the middle decades of the sixteenth century. It was a wonderful panorama that
was suddenly revealed to the European public, of a
new world occupied by strange peoples living in a
state of barbaric civilization. The complete subjection of these peoples and the virtual annihilation of
their civilization by Cortes and Pizarro followed so
quickly, that the ordinary person has never to this
day been able to understand just what happened.
To the average European of those sixteenth-century decades it was as if the curtain had suddenly
opened while the spotlight revealed a stream of
great ships heavily laden with gold and looted treas28




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES


29


ures of picturesque magnificence, about which stories were told that read like the tales of fairies. As
suddenly the curtain drops. The tales are still being
told, but no writer has ever succeeded in making
them seem quite real. They stand out in all their
original brilliance of barbaric splendor and rainbow
hues reflected in polished gold, but behind and over
them hangs a gloomy pall of blackened blood.
When one wishes to express the utmost extremity of
atrocious brutality, of man's inhumanity to his fellow men, he still speaks of the way the Spanish conquerors treated the natives of America.
The earliest news that the regions found by Columbus and named for Vespuccius might be inhabited by something more than naked savages
appeared in the appendix to a book by an Italian,
Ludovico Varthema of Bologna. He was the author
of an 'Itinerario' describing his travels in Aethiopia,
Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and India, which was first
printed at Milan in II 5. It passed through a great
many editions, and these have a place in an Americana collection on account of a narrative that had
then just been received, concerning 'Certain islands
recently discovered,' which was added to the Venice
edition of I 5!20. This was the first news to reach the
European reading public of Grijalva's visit to the
coast of Yucatan in I519, a voyage which was immediately responsible for the departure of Cortes in
the same direction a year later. The Library has
these two editions, each first in its way, as well as




3o


WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


two other Venice editions, of 1522 and I526. Of
these the earlier is said to be the only copy in the
United States; it is so scarce that when Prescott was
writing on the history of Mexico he secured a transcript from what was then the only known copy,
in the library collected by Ferdinand, the son of
Christopher Columbus.
Cortes, during the five years in which the ultimate
fate of his great adventure hung in the balance,
wrote an annual Carta, a letter or report, addressed
to the Emperor Charles the Fifth. The first of
these passed into the hands of Peter Martyr, who
embodied an abstract of it in his 'De Nuper sub D.
Carolo repertis Insulis,' which was printed at Basle
in I52I. When the succeeding letters arrived, there
was no question of waiting for them to be translated
into another language or of sending them half-way
across Europe to be printed. An eager Spanish public demanded the earliest possible news of what was
happening to their fellow countrymen who were engaged in a life-and-death struggle on the Mexican
highlands. Before I530 the Cortes letters, which
had appeared in the original Spanish between I522
and I 525, were as well known throughout Europe as
the single epistle of Columbus had been, a third of a
century before. They had already been translated
into Latin, French, Italian, and German. Furthermore, during the ensuing decades, the contents of
the letters was given additional circulation through
the narratives of three contemporary historians,




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES


3I


G6mara, Bernal Diaz, and Sahagun, who recapitulated them with the addition of supplementary reports from other Conquistadores.
Francisco Lopez de G6mara, thirty years after the
conquest, published two long historical treatises, the
'Conquista de Mexico' and the 'Historia General
de las Indias.' He had taken part in the conquest
of Mexico, as chaplain and secretary to Cortes,
and his writing reflects the partiality inevitable
in one who had remained on good terms with his
chief under such conditions. There is much of importance in his narrative, although it suffers in the
eyes of modern authors by comparison with the
many other accounts written under the inspiration
of the actual events. It was, however, the principal
authoritative source of general information for
nearly three hundred years, and the popular conception of the conquest of Mexico at the present
day largely reflects the statements made in these
two works.
The Spanish editions of G6mara number more
than twenty; the Italian eleven; the French twelve.
With the exception of a single pamphlet of Las
Casas, no Spanish work on the New World was so
widely read, over so long a period. Of these editions
this Library possesses a representative group, including a Spanish edition from Antwerp, dated
I554, an Italian one from Rome, I556, and two
different editions from Venice, both dated I560.
The earliest English edition, entitled 'The Pleasant




32 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Historie of the Conquest of the Weast India, most
delectable to reade,' was printed at London in I578.
The best account of the conquest was written by
another of the companions of Cortes, Bernal Diazl
del Castillo. This was not printed until I632, although frequent quotations from it show that the
historian Herrera had read it some years earlier.
The author's original manuscript still exists in
Guatemala, and the Mexican government secured a
facsimile of it in I895. An abstract from the narrative of Bernal Diaz appeared in the 'Novus Orbis'
of Simon Grynaeus, which was printed at Basle in
I532, just a century before the first Spanish edition came out at Madrid. It was translated into
English by Keatinge as early as I 8oo, and by Lockhart in 1844, but these publications could do nothing to stem the tide of general opinion based on the
overwhelming number of editions of G6mara.
The Franciscan friar Bernardino Sahagun was
another contemporary of the conquest who wrote
about it, in connection with his more extensive
work on the pre-Columbian history of the natives.
His work was well known and frequently consulted
by early Spanish writers, but it did not get into
print until the appearance of the monumental volumes issued by Lord Kingsborough between I83I
and I848.
The work of disseminating what might be called
the official version of the events of the conquest, so
successfully inaugurated by Gomara, was taken up




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES          33
and given fresh vigor by Antonio de Solis, whose
'Historia de la Conquista de Mexico' first appeared
at Madrid in I684. Useless as a source of trustworthy information regarding the events which it
narrates, and fully justifying the remark of Robertson that he knows "no author in any language
whose literary fame has risen so far beyond his real
merit," it is none the less true that nobody can understand why certain ideas about the conquest are
so ineradicably fixed in the popular mind, without
examining the work of Solis.
Peru was conquered by Pizarro in I533, and a
year later appeared the basic narrative describing
his exploit, written by an eyewitness, Francisco de
Xeres. Of this we have the Italian version printed
in I535 at Venice, as well as the extremely rare reprint of the original Spanish printed at Salamanca
in I547. Another Spanish edition, the only recorded
copy of the only edition known in black letter, came
from the Huth collection, and is, in the opinion of
Henry Harrisse, earlier than the Salamanca edition.
An early writer whose work went through many
editions was Jose de Acosta, the author of a 'Historia natural y moral de las Indias.' This cosmographical treatise contains a description of the
religion and mode of government of the natives of
Mexico and Peru, with a short account of the way
the Spaniards established themselves in those two
lands. The original edition appeared at Barcelona
in I59I; the Library also possesses the Italian ver



34    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
sion issued at Venice in I596, and the Dutch translation, of Amsterdam, I624, as well as the English
version, by Edward Grimestone, printed in I604.
Martyr, Oviedo, Ramusio, are the three great
names among the early authorities on the Spanish
in America, contemporaries in time, yet each representing a distinct period, a successive generation, in
the steadily expanding knowledge of the New World
during the sixteenth century. Peter Martyr was a
contemporary annalist, although his wide experience, broad vision, and unusual grasp of the significance of events, gave his writings historical as well
as annalistic value.
A younger acquaintance of Peter Martyr, who
spent some thirty-five years of his eventful life in
America, inaugurated the more strictly historical
treatment of their period. This was Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, whose first book, 'De la
Natural Hystoria de las Indias,' also known as the
'Sumario,' appeared at Toledo in I526. He was appointed the official Chronicler of New World events
by the Spanish monarch, being the first holder of
the title, which gained added laurels from Herrera,
and nothing from Solis. Oviedo's great work, the
'Historia General de las Indias,' was published in
1535 at Seville. This contains at the end a "Carta
missiva" to which the author attached his written
signature. A second edition is dated Salamanca,
I547. Ten years after this, the year of Oviedo's
death, the twentieth book of the second part of his




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES          35
'Historia 'was printed at Valladolid. This was only
a portion of what he had written, and the remainder,
which he had not regarded as ready for publication,
continued in manuscript until I855, when the
Spanish Academy of History printed the portions
that had survived. The Library has each of these
editions; those of 1526 and I547 were secured at
the dispersal of the Huth collection.
The Italian, Giovanni Battista Ramusio, was the
first of the great editors of collections of narratives
of geographical exploration. To him the world is
indebted for the preservation in print of a mass
of documentary material. A considerable portion of
this would not have been saved, if he had not demonstrated on a large scale that a narrative in the actual words of the actor has far greater interest than
any rewriting of the account by the literary historians. The three volumes of Ramusio's 'Delle Navegatione et Viaggi' went through repeated editions
between I550 and I606, and sets are ordinarily, as
the one in this Library (1563, i6o6, i606), made up
of volumes of various dates.
One section of Ramusio's third volume contains
narratives written by the earliest Spaniards who
penetrated into the territory that is now comprised
within the boundaries of the United States. Among
these are some of which no other copy has ever been
found, so that Ramusio remains an authority of the
first importance for the history of this country. He
was not, however, the earliest to put in print a nar



36 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
rative of a Spanish traveller north of Mexico. This
distinction belongs to Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca.
He wrote an account describing his extraordinary
experiences while wandering overland across what
are now the Gulf States, from Florida to the Rio
Grande and thence to the northernmost Spanish
outposts. This account, the first book of travels in
what is now the United States, is so vivid that it
still holds a place among the most readable works of
this character. The original edition, printed in
1542, is known from only two copies, one in New
York and the other in London; the second edition of
I555 is a very scarce work, of which the Library has
a fine copy in its original vellum cover.
Another writer of this century whose work is of
particular interest because it contains in an appendix a long account of Antonio de Espejo's expedition into New Mexico, is Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza. He was a divine and statesman, who was
sent by Philip II as ambassador to China. The
'Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of
China,' which he wrote in Spanish on his return, was
translated into Italian and printed at Venice in i 586,
the year after its first appearance, and an English
translation was published at London in i588.
Cabeza de Vaca's famous wandering in search
of a way out of the northern American continent
started somewhere on the Florida peninsula. The
earliest indication that the Spaniards had visited
this region appears on the manuscript map of i 502,




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES         37
known as the Cantino Chart, of'which the Library's
map division has a full-size facsimile. Ten years
later Ponce de Leon made his famous visit to these
shores, and after another quarter-century Hernando de Soto led his ill-fated companions through
a region which is to this day as little known as any
part of the United States. A contemporary account of the expedition by a certain "Gentleman of
Elvas" was printed at Evora, a Portuguese inland
county-seat, in I557. The original edition is known
by two copies only, in the Lenox and the British
Museum collections, but the Library possesses the
only less scarce translation of it, made by Richard
Hakluyt, and printed in I609 with the title, 'Virginia richly valued, by the description of the mainland of Florida, her next neighbour.' Not to be
compared with these early editions in actual rarity,
and yet far from easy to come by when one wants to
buy it, is the later translation made by Buckingham
Smith and printed as one of the publications of the
Bradford Club of New York, in I866.
The date of Hakluyt's translation, as well as the
title, shows why it was issued. There is the same
evidence to explain the next two editions, in French
and English, dated I685 and i686, when the struggle for a foothold on the Florida coast was again being bloodily contested. Both are in the Library.
Just a century earlier, at Paris in I586, appeared
a work giving the details of another important
episode in the long struggle between the French




38    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Huguenots and Catholics, Rene de Laudonniere's
'L'Histoire notable de la Floride,' compiled by M.
Basanier, who added the narrative of the last of the
four expeditions recorded in the volume.
The student of Floridian annals will want to consult other works: the 'Cosmographie Universelle' of
Andre Thevet (Paris, 1575); Lescarbot's 'Nouvelle
France' (Paris, I6II and 1618); Charlevoix, 'Nouvelle France' (Paris, 1744); Bernard Romans's' Natural History' (New York, I775); Henri Ternaux's
collection of 'Voyages, Relations et Memoires'
(Paris, 1837-41); B. F. French's 'Historical Collections of Louisiana' (Philadelphia, I846-75); and the
scholarly volumes of reprints edited by members of
the Hakluyt Society in the long series that extends
in unbroken sequence from 1848.
In I552 the Dominican friar, Bartolome de Las
Casas, printed at Seville a series of nine brief tracts,
all developing the main idea expressed by the title
of the first: 'A very short account of the destruction
of the Indies.' These tracts made a profound impression upon the Spanish court and upon the reading public, and they remain to this day the principal
source of popular information as to the treatment of
the natives by the Spanish colonial administrators
and settlers. Besides the original series of nine
tracts, in perfect condition, the Library has the several editions of the fourth tract and the so-called
'Tenth Part,' printed at Frankfort in I57I, five
years after the death of Las Casas.




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES          39
In the first tract, the 'Brevissima Relaci6n,' Las
Casas gave full vent to his pent-up fury against
those secular and priestly rivals who had forced him
to abandon his work in the colonies, and who had
perpetrated the horrors which he had witnessed, or
heard about, against the natives in America. This
tract was addressed to the authorities in Spain, and
undoubtedly had great influence upon their attitude toward their subordinates in the colonies.
Neither the author nor the readers whom he addressed could have foreseen that this tract, the first
of the series, was to become perhaps the most
powerful single weapon ever placed in the hands of
the enemies of Spain. To it can be traced directly a
large part of the well-nigh universal horror that the
European world has felt at the mention of "Spanish
cruelty" from that day to the present. The tract
was translated almost immediately into the various
European languages, and these versions were reprinted again and again as long as Spain remained a
dangerous factor in the struggle between the Catholic and Protestant powers. During the first two
decades of the seventeenth century, the succession
of editions, particularly those in Dutch and Flemish, shows how valuable a weapon it proved in
arousing hatred of the Spanish name. A French
translator, whose version appeared at Antwerp in
I579, moderated the descriptions of some things
that seemed to him unbelievable. Besides this, the
Library also has a French manuscript copy written




40 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
in I582, with illustrations which must have satisfied
the bitterest enemy of Spain. These illustrations
are particularly interesting, because they are the
same that appeared in the edition issued by the
famous Amsterdam publisher and engraver, Theodore De Bry, in I 598, and it has been suggested that
they may be the originals which were used by him.
The earliest version of the Las Casas tract in
English is a very rare book, printed at London in
I583 as 'The Spanish colonie, or Brief chronicle of
the acts and gestes of the Spaniardes in the West
Indies, called the Newe Worlde.' The London,
I689, edition was called 'Popery truly display'd in
its bloody colours: or, A Faithful narrative of the
horrid and unexampled massacres, butcheries, and
all Manner of Cruelties, that Hell and Malice could
invent.' Ten years later, in i699, the editor or
publisher changed his appeal, copying the title of
an Amsterdam edition of the preceding year, and
offering the book as 'An account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards.' This
London title of I699 is justified in a measure by
the fact that it is the first of these editions to
include some of the more important sections from
the whole series of nine tracts, although its theme
is still 'The destruction of above Forty Millions of
People.' Few things have been written that have
so completely disappeared from the knowledge of
later generations, that had more influence upon the
world's opinion, than the Las Casas tracts.




CONQ!UISTADORES AND PADRES          41
Besides these tracts, the great bishop wrote another and much more extensive work that is of the
highest historical importance. This is his 'Historia
de las Indias.' It remained in manuscript until published by the Spanish Academy in I876, but it, like
the unpublished work of Oviedo, was used by Herrera, whose 'Historia' contains important extracts
from it, and by later historians, several of whom
possessed transcripts from the original manuscript,
of which a number are known. Besides this extensive work, there is a series of six interesting letters
and papers which were discovered and printed in an
attractive series in i854 by Henry Stevens.
An Italian historian, Girolamo Benzoni, in his
'Historia del Mondo Nuevo,' first printed at Venice
in I565, added his authority to many of the statements narrated by Las Casas. Banned in Spain,
this work had a wide circulation throughout the rest
of Europe. 'There are editions in Latin (Geneva,
1578, the first edition, and Vignon, I 586), in French,
German, Dutch (by De Bry in I596), and English,
the last by Samuel Purchas, printed in I626.
The Las C(asas tracts started a violent controversy between the returned missionary and the authorities in Spain who were directly responsible for
the conduct of affairs by their subordinates in the
colonies. The spokesman for the authorities was
the official historian, Oviedo, who had his personal
reasons for feeling aggrieved, because the friar had
accused him of perverting or misstating facts in his




42 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
published works. The counter-charge was made
that Las Casas was responsible for introducing negro slavery into the New World. He had advocated
this, as a practicable solution of the labor problem
raised by his demand that forced labor should cease
to be imposed upon the American natives. This is
the beginning of another long-continued controversy between those who strive for the right and
those who are compelled to struggle with conditions
as they exist. One aspect of this conflict between
ideals and actualities was the prolonged discussion
between the English and Spanish governments over
the so-called Assiento Contract, which concerned
the English share of the immensely profitable trade
in supplying negroes to the colonial planters. In the
Library's Shelburne Collection of Manuscripts
there are some two thousand pages of official letters
and documents relating to this discussion.
Unquestionably the greatest Spanish colonial
annalist, and most critics would say historian as
well, for this is the opinion of those most competent
to judge,- Prescott, Irving, Robertson, Ticknor,
Mufioz, and the bibliographers Brunet, Sabin,
Eames, and Toribio de Medina, -is Antonio de
Herrera. He was appointed historiographer of the
Indies by Philip II in I59I. His monumental 'Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las
Islas y Tierra Firme del Mar Oceano,' in eight
decades printed in four volumes folio, was published in I6oi-I615. His official position gave him




CONQUISTADORES AND PADRES


43


direct access to the state papers and other authentic sources, such as the unpublished manuscripts left by Las Casas, which previous writers had
not been able to consult. His use of these was on
the whole both accurate and unprejudiced, and his
great work is indispensable for those who wish to
study the colonial period and the aboriginal American peoples. It was reprinted, with additional material in a fifth volume, under the editorship of
Gonzalez Barcia, at Madrid in 1730. Of this edition
the Library has a fine copy on large paper. An English translation in six small volumes, by Captain
John Stevens, makes very good reading and is useful
for those who are seeking the English equivalents of
many Spanish terms more familiar then than now,
and to seafarers than to fireside translators. The
captain took many liberties with his author's work,
so that it cannot safely be used for purposes of historical study. An excellent bibliography of the
writings of Herrera in Sabin's 'Dictionary of American Books,' also issued separately, was one of the
first publications which attracted the attention of
students of Americana to the work of Wilberforce
Eames, for many years now Dean of American students of book-lore.




Chapter IV
ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS
ENGLISH-SPEAKING children are taught in
their schools that John Cabot discovered the
North American continent for the English crown
and race. He was a Venetian, who sailed westward
from Bristol in I497 and returned with the news
that he had made a landfall on the other side of the
Atlantic. A year later he set forth again, with six
vessels and some three hundred men, in search of
Cathay and the land of spices; one of the vessels got
back to Ireland in distress, with the report of a terrific storm. This is the last heard of John Cabot.
His son Sebastian may, on this or some subsequent
voyage, have continued the search for a northwestern passage through to the farther East, and failing in this, have explored the coast northward from
Spanish Florida.
These simple statements are satisfying to the
schoolchildren and their teachers, and if the matter
could rest there the historian's duty would be easy.
But careful investigators find that the facts are so
beset with confusions that every word in the statement demands qualification. In consequence the
Cabot question affords perhaps the best single illustration of the need of reexamining the whole body
44




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS         45
of accepted statements concerning early American
history.
A single fact is important and has never been
seriously controverted - John Cabot was authorized by the English king to make a voyage, and on
that voyage he discovered North America. Inevitably this fact raises a score of questions everyone
would like to know more about: who he was, where
and when he landed, what he saw and did there,
who was with him, what happened next? These
questions were asked and answered in the autumn
of the year I497, but the written answers were in
cipher letters secretly dispatched to Madrid and to
Venice, where they remained hidden for four centuries. During this long interval, other reports
gained currency in print. Most of these we now
know to have been based on accurate information,
which was not clearly understood by those who
spread them first by word of mouth, or who later
put them on record in books. The enormous and
steadily increasing importance of Cabot's discovery, as the basis for the English claim to rights on
American soil, led to the most minute and repeated
examination of every scrap of evidence. The result
is that this has been the subject for more writing,
most of it controversial in character, than any
other single episode in American annals. Most of
the time and effort and critical ability devoted to
these discussions has been utterly wasted so far as
the historical truth is concerned; but the future




46 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
will not begrudge the loss if this body of historical
material serves, as it may well do, to train new generations of investigators and writers in the way to
avoid the pitfalls that beset the pilgrim's path toward historical truth.
The official document that authorized Cabot's
voyage was printed by Richard Hakluyt in his
'Divers Voyages,' in I582, but the main facts had
been made public nearly seventy years earlier by
Peter Martyr in his 'Decades,' Alcala, I5I6, and in
the 'Summario de la Generale Historia de l'Indie
occidentali,' Venetia, I534. Ten years after the
'Summario' appeared at Venice, John Cabot's son
Sebastian printed, on a map and in a pamphlet each
of which is now known from only a single surviving copy, a statement about the discovery which
would be accurate if there was not a misprint in the
all-important date. These were supplemented a
decade later by Ramusio, who talked with Sebastian Cabot about these things while they were
guests at a house party in Verona, and who added
some very significant details to the story when he
embodied it in his monumental 'Viaggi,' Venetia,
5 o- 6o6.
Richard Eden put the facts about Cabot's voyage within reach of English readers in his 'Treatyse
of the Newe India,' London, I 553, and in his compilation from Martyr and others, published two years
later. Eden possessed no new information, but just
about this time Sebastian Cabot was induced to re



ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS          47
turn to England, bringing stirring tales of the marvellous discoveries made by the Spaniards and the
gold collected by them. This awakened fresh interest at the English court and in every seaport, and
the importance of the claim of a right to share in
the exploitation of the New World, made possible
by the voyage of I497, was at once emphasized.
Englishmen began to be stirred by the enthusiasm
for colonization and for the development of trade
overseas, which was to bear such rich fruit a halfcentury later.
Typical of the solid English character and of the
English way of laying down a foundation upon
which to rest its case when there is difficult work
ahead, is the exceedingly rare little volume which
marks the real beginning of England's entry into
serious competition with Spain for the American
field. This is Richard Hakluyt'searliest publication,
put forth at ]London in I582, with the title 'Divers
Voyages touching the discoverie of America, and
the Islands adjacent unto the same, made first of all
by our Englishmen, and afterwards by the Frenchmen and Britons [i. e. Bretons]: And certaine notes
of advertisements for observations, necessarie for
such as shall heereafter make the like attempt.'
This contains, in Latin and English, the text of the
Letters Patent under which the discovery of I497
was made for England. Besides these it gives several other narratives, including that of Verrazano's
voyage along the American coast, during which




48   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
he sailed into Narragansett Bay and New York
Harbor.
Giovanni da Verrazano was, like John Cabot, an
Italian sailing master in foreign service. He made
his voyage of discovery in I 524, armed with a licence
from the French monarch, Francis I; but he was
equally ready to turn pirate on his own responsibility, as when four years later he met on the high
seas one of the treasure ships laden with the loot
gathered by Cortes in Mexico. On his return to
Dieppe from the voyage, which seems to have extended from the latitude of the Carolinas to the
coast of Maine, he wrote two letters or reports. One
of these came into the possession of Ramusio, who
translated it for the third volume of his 'Viaggi.'
The other did not get into print until nearly three
centuries later, when it was included in the New
York Historical Society volume for I84I. That the
importance of Verrazano's exploration was appreciated from the first is clear from Hakluyt's use of
Ramusio's text, in i582, as well as the appearance
of Verrazano's name on the famous Lok map, issued
with some copies of the 'Divers Voyages.' All the
reports of this voyage became the subject of a virulent controversy which broke out in the eighteenseventies, in which James Carson Brevoort, Henry
C. Murphy, Henry Harrisse, Buckingham Smith,
Richard Henry Major, and Benjamin Franklin Da
Costa illustrated the extraordinary ease with which
diametrically opposite conclusions can be drawn




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS 49
from the smallest possible body of material, with
which all of these writers were equally well acquainted. This controversy is quite as well worth
studying as are those waged over the Cabots, and
will prove fully as illuminating as a revelation of the
close connection between historical opinions and
social or pecuniary obligations.
Spanish officials learned through their diplomatic
agents that the French were sending Verrazano to
spy out the Western land, and ordered Estevan
Gomez to do some scouting on their account toward the northwest. He sailed in I525, and there
are references to the voyage in the 'Sumario' of
Oviedo, in Martyr's 'Decades' of I530, as well as
in G6mara and Herrera. Equally important are the
traces of his reports that can be made out on the
Spanish maps, of which the Library has an extensive collection of facsimiles, many of which were
secured with the Henry Vignaud library. The
Gomez documents have to do also with the Verrazano discussions, because Mr. Murphy contended
that the French reports were fabricated out of information secured piratically from one of the ships
that accompanied Gomez, of whose fate nothing is
actually known.
Of earlier date is the Portuguese attempt to pick
up some crumbs from the colonial table that was
overflowing into the neighboring portion of the
Iberian peninsula. In ISoo Gaspar Cortereal was
authorized by King Emmanuel to find a route to




so


WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


Cathay. Although he may not have known it, he
set out on the shortest route, geographically, and
got as far as Greenland, where he learned that the
western continental mass was not the only obstacle
in the way of navigators seeking a northwest passage. The brief account of this, as well as of two
subsequent voyages in the same direction by Cortereal and his brothers, may be found in the 'Paesi
novamente retrovati,' printed at Vicenza in I507,
and also in Ramusio's 'Viaggi,' first printed in I550
at Venice.
The greatest of the French explorers was the
Breton sailor Jacques Cartier. He made three voyages, on two of which he was the sole commander; in
the third Francis I associated with him the Sieur
de Roberval, to whom was given the title of Governor of Canada and of Hochelaga. Sailing first
in April, 1534, on the perennial quest for a passage
through to India, Cartier found the only opening
on the whole Atlantic coast that really offered
a chance deserving further exploration, the Gulf of
Saint Lawrence. Returning the next season, Cartier sailed up the great river, the tidal flow encouraging his hopes that it might prove the long-sought
waterway through to the South Sea, past the native
settlement where Quebec now is, until his hopes
were at last dashed by the rapids at the spot where
Montreal is situated. Here Cartier with his crew
spent a disastrous winter, returning to France by
midsummer of 1536.




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS 5I
There is an account of Cartier's two voyages in
Ramusio's third volume. This Italian version was
translated into English by John Florio, the friend of
Shakespeare:, and printed with the title 'A shorte
and brief narration of the two Navigations and discoveries to the Northweast partes called Newe
Fraunce:... Worthy the reading of all Venturers,
Travellers, and Discoverers.' Of this precious and
very rare tract, the Library has a copy that was
once among the duplicate treasures of the British
Museum. All of the French tracts relating to this
period are of the utmost rarity, most of those that
have survived at all being known from a single recorded copy. The Library has been fortunate in securing facsimiles of these little pamphlets of which
the original editions are now unprocurable. Some
of these were published at Paris during the middle
decades of the nineteenth century, in very attractive editions,, copies of which are already almost as
difficult to acquire as the originals printed two or
three hundred years earlier. Others are included in
the important series of photostat facsimiles of rare
Americana titles, selected by Wilberforce Eames
and reproduced under the supervision of Worthington Chauncey Ford of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, for a small group of associated libraries, of
which this is one.
The French spirit of adventure for trade and discovery, so ardent with Cartier, slumbered after his
death for more than fifty years. War occupied




52 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
France's attention, and not until the beginning of
the seventeenth century did there occur a reawakening to outside enterprise. Then the Governor of
Dieppe was the exponent of the revival. He organized in 1603, under the Royal sanction, a company
for the purpose of making settlements and trading
posts for the fur traffic. Two vessels were fitted out
and set sail in March of that year, under the command of Samuel de Champlain. Sailing up the St.
Lawrence, he revisited the places seen by Cartier,
gathered information in regard to the natives, and
returned to make a brief report, which was at once
printed in a tiny pamphlet. The result of this was
that the patrons of the enterprise decided to try
to find a milder spot for the headquarters of their
undertaking. The next year Champlain, with the
Sieur de Monts as governor of the proposed settlement, crossed to the Bay of Fundy. Here De Monts
began what he hoped would be a permanent settlement, while Champlain explored the coast toward
the south, making a map which shows with accurate
detail the New England shore from the St. Croix
River to Nauset Harbor on Cape Cod.
Returning to France for the winter of I607-o8,
Champlain was made Lieutenant-Governor of New
France, or Canada, a position which he retained for
the balance of his life. The next spring he was again
in the New World. Either because he did not
choose to risk inviting trouble with those who were
carrying out the English colonial plans, or because




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS           53
of the greater opportunities for the fur trade in the
north, he went back to the St. Lawrence. Quebec
was founded, and the next year, I609, he explored
the lake which perpetuates his name, engaging in
the famous battle with the Mohawks, which influenced the whole future course of events between the
Indian allies of the French and the English colonists. For the next quarter of a century he was the
outstanding figure in the colony, or as its representative at Paris, until his death on Christmas Day,
I635.
Champlain's writings are by no means the least
of his services to the colony and to posterity. In
Paris, 1613, he published a substantial quarto volume entitled 'Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain.
Journal tres-fidele des Observations faites es descouvertures de la Nouvelle France: tant en la description des terres, costes, rivieres...qu'en la
creance des peuples, leur superstitions, fagon de
vivre & de guerroyer.' This volume not only narrates the events of the ten years since his first visit
to the country, but is an invaluable document for
the natural history of the region, describing its
fauna and flora, the character of the soil, and also
giving a description of the natives and their customs as he had observed them in different localities.
The Library's copy of this important volume came
from the Crane collection and is in its original vellum binding. It was once in the library of the Society of Jesus at Brussels. The narrative was con



54   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
tinued to the end of the year 1618 in 'Voyages et
Descouvertures faites en la Nouvelle France, depuis
l'annee I6I5 jusques a la fin de l'annee i6i8,' of
which the Library's copy has the title dated 1627.
In 1632 appeared 'Les Voyages de la Nouvelle
France Occidentale, dicte Canada, faits par le Sr.
de Champlain, depuis l'an I603.' The narrative
comes down to include the capture of Quebec by the
English in 1629. This is the most important single
volume of the series, but in his revision Champlain
necessarily omitted many sections from the previous publications which the modern student finds
valuable, so that it is essential that each be consulted. The Library has the Robert Hoe copy of
the 1632 edition, as well as the earliest reprint of
1640, and the latest of 1922. Between these dates
there are two other editions: one in French, issued
under the supervision of the Abbe Laverdiere at
Quebec in 1870, and one in English, translated by
Charles Pomeroy Otis for the Prince Society in
1878-82.
Champlain was the earliest of a remarkable group
of French chroniclers - Champlain, Sagard, Lescarbot, Leclercq, and the writers of the 'Jesuit Relations' -all of whose writings are indispensable for
the study of Canadian history. They are almost
equally fundamental for that of a considerable portion of the United States. Champlain's narrative
contains the earliest information concerning the
Great Lakes and the adjacent territory. His excur



ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS 55
sion to Lake Champlain and his intercourse with
the Iroquois make him an authority of primary importance for New York and northern New England
history. The first contact with the natives of the
Mohawk Valley was particularly fateful. The
French explorers with their firearms turned the tide
of battle in favor of their companions, warriors
from the northern tribes. It was the beginning of a
feud that lasted as long as there were French soldiers in Canada for the Iroquois warriors to hate.
Many times during the ensuing hundred and fifty
years the tide of events was turned by the Indian
allies of the English, whose undying enmity the
French emissaries were never able to overcome.
What might have happened had that first encounter ended in friendship for Champlain and his
countrymen is a fascinating subject for speculation.
One of the companions of De Monts at the settlement in Acadie and on the early return to Paris was
Marc Lescarbot. There is no evidence that he ventured far from the main colony, but his brief residence in the New World was utilized to advantage
in publishing, in I609, a 'Histoire de la Nouvelle
France contenant les navigations, decouvertes, &
habitations faites par les Francois es Indes Occidentales & Nouvelle-France, & les diverses fortunes
d'iceux en l'execution de ces choses, depuis cent ans
jusques a hui.' This 'Histoire morale, naturele, &
geographique' embodies the narratives that had
previously been printed of the voyages of Verra



WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


zano, Laudonniere, Cartier, Robeval, and the other
French explorers. It is of the utmost value as showing just what was known to the French public when
the settlement of Canada began, and what influences helped to animate those who volunteered for
the new France overseas. It is also important for
many details concerning the De Monts colony and
for the causes which led to its abandonment. The
Library's copy of the first edition is in a fine contemporary vellum binding, with the leather latchets
intact. Evidently this is not a copy that had any
influence on earlier generations of readers, for the
leaves are still unopened three hundred years after
the volume was printed. The immediate success of
the work is shown by the fact that three new and enlarged editions came out within the next decade; of
these the Library has those dated I6I I and I6I 8.
Appended to Lescarbot's 'Histoire,' with its own
title-page, is a dramatic poem occupying 66 pages,
entitled 'Les Muses de la Nouvelle France.' The
extraordinary interest of this piece lies in the facts,
not only that it was the first literary product emanating from the French colony, but that there is
every reason to believe that the pageant of which it
preserves the text was actually performed by those
gay young Frenchmen during their brief summer
residence on an island in the St. Croix river. Doubtless they might better have been tending their crops
or hewing timbers, instead of play-acting; but it
may be equally true that nothing they might have




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS          57
done would have altered the geographical fact that
their commander had selected an impossible place
for the site of his settlement.
An English translation of Lescarbot's book, much
abridged, was printed the same year as the first edition, London., I609, with the title 'Nova Francia, or
the Description of that part of New France which
is one continent with Virginia.' Like so many of
the similar London publications of this period, this
translation was undertaken at the suggestion of
Richard Hakluyt. Lescarbot's name does not appear in the book, and the translator, Pierre Erondelle, put only his initials on the title-page.
Gabriel Sagard was the author of two works
which are of prime importance for an understanding of the Catholic missions. They give a profuse
account of the Indian life and manners, which was
based mainly on what he learned from others, although he spent a short time among the Huron
tribes. Sagard's first book, printed at Paris in I632,
was entitled 'Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons, situe en L'Amerique vers la mer douce, es
derniers confins de la nouvelle France, Ou il est
traicte de tout ce qui est du pays & du gouvernement des Sauvages.' Four years later this was expanded into a 'Histoire du Canada et Voyages que
les Freres Mineurs Recollects y ont faicts pour la
conversion des Infidelles. Ou est amplement
traicte des choses principales arrivees dans le pays
depuis l'an 1615 jusques a la prise qui en a est~




58   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
faicte par les Anglois.' The Library has the good
fortune to possess these works with the two sections
-a Dictionary of Huron names in the first, and
four pages of Indian music in the 'Histoire'which are frequently missing.
Nobody will ever know how many English sailors, looking for a cargo of fish or of anything else
that would pay them for their time and trouble,
crossed the Atlantic during the early decades of the
sixteenth century, following the course set them by
the Cabots. Caring only for what they got out of
the voyage, and anxious to avoid future competition if the trip turned out well, the last thing they
wanted was a record of what they had done. Richard Hakluyt, at the end of this century, was able to
rescue from oblivion a few documents and put into
print the names of some of these forerunners of
English commerce. Of these the most prominent
were William and John Hawkins, father and son.
William Hawkins, in I530, made the first recorded
voyage to the coast of Guinea for blacks, and thence
to Brazil for a market, winning unenviable distinction as the founder of the "Triangular Voyage"
upon which so many fortunes of the Old and New
England were established during the next three
hundred years. John Hawkins, continuing the
family trade, came into the light when, in I563, he
happened luckily to touch at the settlement on the
coast of Florida where the French colonists of Laudonniere were in need of help. The third of the




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS         59
name, Sir Richard, made a famous voyage into the
South Seas, in I593, the tale of which was printed
in London, I6'22, as 'The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins.'
Preeminent among England's seafarers is Sir
Francis Drake. Navigator, explorer, pirate, his
career typifies the maritime spirit of that adventurous age. Equally typical of the Protestant half
of the England of his time is his implacable hatred
toward the Spaniard. He had seen how the Spaniards treated the native inhabitants of their New
World possessions, and their inquisitional methods
of dealing with the heretical Protestants. He never
forgave them the perfidy at San Juan d'Ulua, when
he was in the fleet of Sir John Hawkins, and to the
end of his life sought revenge against the countrymen of those who had played him false. His whole
career is that of a great Englishman in whom were
embodied a large share of the traits which appeal to
all of English blood and inheritance.
The story of Drake's most famous voyage is told
by the chaplain of the expedition, Francis Fletcher,
in a volume published at London a half-century
later, in I628, entitled 'The world encompassed by
Sir Francis Drake, Being his next voyage to that
to Nombre de Dios, offered now to publique view,
both for the honour of the actor, but especially for
the stirring up of heroick spirits, to benefit their
Countrie, and eternize their names by like noble attempts.' Starting in November, I577, he coasted




60   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the Atlantic shores of South America, made his way
through the Straits of Magellan, and stopped at
Valparaiso, without especial adventure. Then fate,
or shrewd calculation, put in his way a Spanish
treasure ship, of which he took possession, a prize
that amply rewarded all concerned in the venture.
Knowing that he would have to fight his way back
into the Atlantic, Drake decided to find another
way home. Sailing north, he made the earliest careful exploration of the coast northward from the
Gulf of California, hoping to discover the western
opening of the long-sought water passage through
North America. Not far from the present city of
San Francisco he went ashore and careened his
ships, taking possession of this land, which he called
New Albion, for the English crown - a claim that
lapsed until the events of I849 led to its return to
the English race. Unable to find a shorter route,
Drake boldly set his course westward, and made
his way back to London around the Cape of Good
Hope, in the autumn of I580o.
The return of Drake was a memorable event in
London's annals. The printers did their best to
satisfy the public's curiosity to learn about his adventures and the treasure he brought back to enrich Elizabeth and the others who had provided
funds to equip the fleet. People bought and read
and threw away the little tracts that told the story,
which are to-day among the very scarcest of all
the books that collectors strive for, and well-nigh




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS 6I


priceless when found. Not only in England, but all
over Europe there was the same eager desire to
read the tale of how Drake and his men tweaked
the Spaniard's beard, and audaciously rifled treasures where he thought them safest. One of these,
printed at Leyden in I588, has the Latin title 'Expeditio Francisci Draki equitis Angli in Indias Occidentales.' Equally interesting and significant is
the argument in justification of Drake's treatment
of the Spaniards, set forth by Edward Daunce in
'A briefe discourse of the Spanish state,' London,
1590.
Besides these, there is an account of the attack in
1589, on Lisbon, at that time an appanage of the
Spanish crown, in which Drake was associated with
Edward Norris, 'A true coppie of a discourse written by a gentleman employed in the late voyage of
Spaine and Portingale,' London, I589. There was
also a Latin version of this tract printed the same
year, 1589, at London, which was presumably intended, perhaps as propaganda, for the European
public: 'Ephemeris expeditionis Norreysij & Draki
in Lusitaniamn.' The story of Drake's last voyage,
in I595-96, is told in Henry Savile's 'A Libell of
Spanish Lies found at the Sacke of Cales, discoursing the fight in the West Indies, twixt the English
Navie being fourteene Ships and Pinasses, and a
fleete of twentie saile of the King of Spaines, and
the death of Sir Francis Drake. With an answere
briefely confuting the Spanish Lies, and a short




62   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Relation of the fight according to truth,' London,
I596.
There may have been political reasons to explain
why the first collected edition of the narratives of
Drake's voyages came out in the year 1626. It is entitled 'Sir Francis Drake Revived: Calling upon
this Dull or Effeminate Age to folowe his Noble
Steps for Golde & Silver,' London, 1626. This was
compiled by his nephew, of the same name. In
1653 it was again issued, together with the first
collected edition of Drake's voyages with the title:
'Sir Francis Drake revived. Who is or may be a
pattern to stirre up all heroicke and active spirits
in these times,' London, I653.
Nothing enables modern readers to appreciate
the state of geographical knowledge at the end of
the century following the discovery of America,
better than the fact that all the contemporaries of
Drake believed that somewhere a passage must exist by which ships could sail direct from the North
Atlantic into the Pacific or South Sea. The search
for this Northwest Passage, as it came to be designated after the coast line south of Labrador had
been definitely outlined, continued at intervals, until the water route north of the American continent
was at last achieved by Amundsen in I906. Here,
we are interested only in the three earlier voyagers,
Martin Frobisher, Luke Foxe, and Thomas James,
whose courage and endurance supplied the main
outline of the mainland west of Greenland.




ENGLISH AND FRENCH VOYAGERS         63
Of the accounts of Frobisher's voyage, the Library
has two Latin versions, the 'Historia navigationis
Martini Forbisseri,' printed at Hamburg in 1675;
and the 'De Martini Forbisseri Angli navigatione
in regiones occidentis et septentrionis,' Nuremberg,
I580. The narrative of Fox's voyage is entitled
'North-West Fox, or Fox from the Northwest passage. Beginning with King Arthur,' London, 1635;
and this copy contains the exceedingly rare map
which was not included in all copies of the work.
This is true also of the map which is in the copy
of the 'Strange and dangerous voyage of Captaine
Thomas James, in his intended discovery of the
northwest passage into the South Sea,' London,
I633. A later edition of this book is dated I740.




Chapter V
THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES
AN   account of the great Collections of Voyages
is the fitting conclusion to this series of chapters which have described the source books of the
period of maritime discovery. These Collections,
published in Latin, English, French, and German,
are a summary of all that had been done since 1492.
They contain comparativelyfew narratives that had
not appeared previously in another form, ordinarily
in the small quarto pamphlets which now constitute
the most characteristic group of the rarest "Americana." The Collections are by comparison quite
common, unless one desires to have each of them in
its best and earliest form, and complete in all its
parts. In this case they call for persistent searching,
unwearied patience, and a large amount of money.
The Library contains each of these important Collections, and if they are not yet all perfected, they
are as a whole in satisfactory state for most purposes, and they contain many important bibliographical features not often found.
Of the various men who edited or published these
Collections, the work of the Englishman, Richard
Hakluyt, is to us the most interesting. His earliest
publication was the 'Divers Voyages' of I582, al64




THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES        65
ready mentioned on previous pages -from many
points of view the greatest of all English source
books. It contains the basic accounts of the region
that is now the United States. Other publications
due to him have also been noted, from which many
English readers secured their first information
about Canada, Florida, and the intervening territory covered by the name of Virginia.
In I589 H.akluyt expanded the little quarto 'Divers Voyages' into a substantial folio containing
'The Principall Navigations, Voyages, and Discoveries of the English Nation.' This is " an invaluable
treasury of nautical information, which has affixed
to his name a brilliancy of reputation which time
can never efface or obscure." The Library's copy is
exceptionally fine, with all the many "points" demanded by a discriminating collector. Large and
perfect, it is exactly as when originally issued, without the leaves containing 'The famous voyage of
Sir Francis I)rake into the South Sea,' which were
suppressed. Alongside of the volume, however, is a
copy of the suppressed voyage as it was issued privately by Hakluyt, as well as the two issues of the
Bowes voyage, which are even rarer than the Drake.
The volume,also contains the correct Ortelius map.
This was inserted, as Hakluyt explains in his preface, when he found that the map he wanted, "composed by M. Emmeric Mollineux of Lambeth, a
rare gentleman in his profession," would not be completed in time. A copy of this famous Molyneux




66  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


map, in its first state, is the chief glory of the
Library's copy of Hakluyt's most important publication, 'The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, made
by Sea or over Land, to the remote and farthest distant quarters of the Earth, at any time within the
compasse of these I5oo yeeres,' comprising three
large volumes,London, 1598-I600. This copy, in the
contemporary calf binding, came from the Bridgewater collection formed by the Earls of Ellesmere.
There is also another copy, which formerly belonged
to the New England historian Samuel G. Drake.
No one has ever surpassed Richard Hakluyt in
faithfulness to his task as a compiler and editor, and
English scholars are still busy creating a most fitting monument to his memory in the long series of
volumes bearing the imprint of the Society which
perpetuates his name.
'Hakluytus Posthumus' was the title adopted by
Samuel Purchas, a worthy clergyman who secured
the papers left by Hakluyt and attempted to publish them in what he considered a better way. He
filled four bulky volumes, which he entitled his
'Pilgrimes,' preserving many narratives that would
undoubtedly have been lost if he had not used them.
The trouble with Purchas was that he did not realize that he knew almost nothing about voyages of
discovery or the men who made them. He rewrote
the narratives that came into his hands, "improving" as seemed to him desirable, omitting what did




THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES


67


not interest him, and adding his own occasional reflections, which were doubtless more edifying to
their author than they have been found by later
generations. With all their faults, the volumes contain much that is of the highest value concerning
events of which there is no other record extant.
The bibliography of Purchas's publications is
thoroughly complex, and has not yet been worked
out satisfactorily. His first work was entitled 'Purchas his Pilgrimage. Or Relations of the World
and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places
discovered, from the Creation unto this present.'
This was printed in 1613, and a fourth edition is
ordinarily found with the set of 'Hakluytus Posthumus' or 'Pilgrimes.' Six years later appeared
'Purchas His Pilgrim. Microcosmus, or the History of man. Relating the wonders of his Generi,
tion, Vanities in his Degeneration, Necessity of his
Regeneration. Meditated on the words of David.'
These meditations fill a folio volume of over 800
pages.
The Library has two sets of the five-volume work.
One has the title of the first volume dated 1625, in
this and other respects agreeing with all ordinary
copies. The other set is a remarkable one, for not
only are all the volumes in their original vellum
bindings with silk ties, but each is the earliest issue.
Volume I has the engraved title dated 1624, and
there are peculiarities in the wording of the title
that are not found in the other recorded copies.




68  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


There is no dedication to the King, and the dedication to the Archbishop of Canterbury appears as
originally written, entirely different from the subsequent form. In the fifth volume there are statements about the Dutch which the author changed
materially before the work was regularly published.
The greatest of all the publishers of voyages and
travels were the De Bry family, who formed the
Frankfort firm which issued over ninety editions of
twenty-seven different narratives between I Sgo and
1634. Theodor De Bry, who began the publication
of these volumes, was originally an engraver, and
their widespread popularity was due in large measure to the numerous full-page copper-plates used
to illustrate each narrative. At first the text was
really regarded as little more than an introduction
to the illustrations; but the success of the earlier
volumes showed that there was a public demand for
books of travel quite as important as for the engravings. De Bry by catering to both interests soon
made himself the most successful of all the publishers who have specialized in books of travel. These
were issued in two series. The first, on larger paper
than the other, the volumes measuring about fourteen inches in height, are known as the 'Grands
Voyages' (the meaning being that of the words in
French) and contain the accounts of the western
or American Indies. The others, or 'Petit Voyages,'
measure about two inches less, and are devoted to
the East Indies. Each part or narrative, of both




THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES


69


series, was issued in Latin and also in German. Of
the first of the 'Grands Voyages,' there are also
French and English texts.
The collector of historical Americana early in his
career learns the importance of acquiring all these
series of collections of voyages, and, most of all,
those with the familiar imprint: of the De Bry firm.
Once he is fairly in the arena of competition with
rival collectors, if he be an ardent lover of the subject and of the game, he finds himself engaged in a
most fascinating, illusive, far-reaching task. Parts,
editions, issues, variations, each raises questions
that offer new and unexpected points to maintain
the interest of the quest, and place unforeseen obstacles in the way of the seeker who is persistent in
his ambition to approximate completeness for his set
of these monumental volumes. It is a chastening
occupation, and full of lessons, of a sort that can be
learned only in the school of experience.
The difficulty of completing a full set of De Bry
comes from the long interval between the appearance of Part I of the 'Grands Voyages,' containing
Hariot's 'Virginia,' which will be described on a
later page, and the ending of the undertaking with
Parts XIII and XIV of the Latin versions of the
same series forty-four years afterward. During this
interval, Theodor De Bry and the sons who continued his work both as engravers and publishers,
all died, and the children of one of the sons, with
the daughters' husbands, brought the series to its




70 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
conclusion. Meanwhile, many of the earlier parts
went out of print and had to be reissued in order
to supply the steady demand, which was increased
as the appearance of each new part created fresh
buyers anxious to possess the whole work. In many
cases, also, the printers had run off the presses a
larger number of certain sheets than of others belonging to the same volume, so that extra copies of
the missing sections had to be provided by setting
them up in type afresh, thus providing still further
curiosities for the bibliographer. To complete the
confusion of those who try to understand the intricacies of this perplexing subject, some of the collectors and the booksellers who catered to them
seventy-five years ago, before bibliographical and
collecting standards were as strict as they are now,
made up copies by combining text and plates from
different issues, with the idea of securing the sharpest impressions or cleanest examples, regardless of
actual relationship. Altogether, the complications
have become so great that most collectors frankly
abandon the subject as not being worth the trouble
of trying to understand it. In this they have the
support of historical students whose interest is only
in the text of the narratives, and to whom the
search for bibliographical peculiarities appears to
be merely the gratification of a dilettante's hobby.
Undismayed by such opinions, the bibliographers
and their allies in the collecting fraternity persist
in their search, knowing well that each new varia



THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES


7I


tion not only brings its own satisfaction to the discoverer, but brings him also a little nearer to the
solution of all the puzzles. When this is found, the
whole broad subject of book-making and distribution, which underlies in large measure the history
of human culture, will move one step forward.
Thus the hunt goes on, and the most joyful collector is he who makes his contribution by bagging
the variation which none of his rivals has captured.
Of the American parts of De Bry, the Library has
three sets, each of which was the pride of its previous owner. One has on its bindings the arms of the
Christie-Miller collection from Britwell Court, with
additions from the E. Dwight Church and Huntington collections, making in all a set of ninety
volumes. The second is the complete set of first
editions of both series of the Latin Voyages formed
by the elder Henry Stevens for Brayton Ives. This
is not only in the finest possible condition but it
contains a number of exceptionally important variations that escaped Lord Crawford, whose descriptive bibliography is still the best single guide to the
knowledge of De Bry. It also has the excessively
scarce general title-page, preface, and contents,
known as the 'Elenchus,' which was issued by the
publishers by way of notification that the series was
at last ended. Lastly, there is a set of I04 volumes,
each presentinga distinguishing peculiarity, brought
together by the greatest living exponent of De Bry,
Henry N. Stevens of London. Mr. Stevens, suc



72 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
ceeding his father, "Henry Stevens of Vermont,"
has maintained with notable distinction the reputation of the name both in the book-trade and in bibliography. The father was closely associated with
the foundation of the Lenox and Brown collections
of Americana nearly a century ago, and both of
these owe much to the son's loyal interest in them.
For three quarters of a century no one else has been
so closely and honorably associated with the acquisition of the source books of American history
by American libraries as have these two. They have
been the trusted advisers of every collector who has
won a prominent position in this field.
The popular appreciation of De Bry still rests
largely upon the wonderful engravings which distinguish these volumes from all the rival collections. In every case where the publisher could do
so, he secured the most authentic material from
which to make his illustrations and maps. Unluckily it was not always possible to get sketches or even
satisfactory descriptions from which to work, and
the illustrator, to avoid disappointing his patrons,
perforce drew upon his imagination, guided by his
stock of general information. In most of these
cases, it can at least still be claimed in extenuation
of the designer's shortcomings, that there is nothing
better, of as early a date, to take their place. On
the other hand, to the North Americanist, all the
faults of the remaining parts are more than counterbalanced by the priceless pictorial record in the first




THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES          73
and second parts of the 'Grands Voyages.' These
preserve the appearance and manner of living of
the natives of the southeastern section of the
United States. The De Bry Collection of Voyages
is, indeed, one more in the long list of services to
posterity - as well as to his contemporaries -
rendered by Richard Hakluyt. It was at his suggestion that Theodor De Bry selected as the first
narrative for his projected publication Thomas
Hariot's 'Brief and true Report of Virginia,' and
through Hakluyt's help the engraver secured the
use of the drawings made by John White at
Roanoke.
There are a number of abridgments or condensations of the De Bry Collection. The earliest of these
is Philip Ziegler's 'America, das ist, Erfindung und
Offenbahrung der Newen Welt,' issued at Frankfurt
in I6I7. In i631 Johann Ludwig Gottfried brought
out a 'Historia Antipodum oder Newe Welt, Das
ist: Natur und Eigenschaft desz halbentheils der
Erden.' Several similar publications followed at intervals, each of which found its raison d'etre in the
reproduction of the De Bry engravings, frequently
from the original plates.
Levinus Hulsius of Nuremberg published the series of narratives of voyages which comes nearest to
rivalling that: of De Bry in the interest of collectors.
He and his successors issued twenty-six parts in
German, and two in Latin, between I598 and I65o.
Including the various editions, of which there were




74 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
five for the first and third parts, and variant issues,
the latest dated 1663, there are at least 69 separate
volumes needed to make a set complete. Of these,
the Library now has 56, including the full series of
first editions of each part from the Henry Huth collection. The Hulsius volumes are all small quarto
in size and they are illustrated only by cuts in the
text. Thus there was none of the inducement for
those who bought the volumes when they were published, to preserve them, as was the case with the
De Brys. In consequence of this relative insignificance in appearance, the Hulsius volumes are very
much more difficult to find than those of De Bry,
and anything approximating a full set is almost unattainable. On the other hand, as an editor, Hulsius
was very much more discriminating than his rival.
Whereas De Bry was content to take any text,
however well known, provided only he could get
material for illustrations, Hulsius sought out narratives that had not previously been printed. His volumes include a good deal of actual source material,
especially that which relates to the Dutch East India Company and its trading posts and settlements.
While this is not strictly American, it is material
with which anyone studying the early history of the
Western hemisphere ought to have some acquaintance if he expects to understand events in their
true perspective.
The Latin texts published by De Bry satisfied the
demands of French readers for collected voyages




THE COLLECTIONS OF VOYAGES


75


and travels until 1663, when Melchizedec Thevenot
issued the first part of his 'Relations de divers voyages curieux, qui n'ont point este publiees, ou qui
ont est6 traduites d'Hacluyt, de Purchas & d'autres
Voyageurs Frangois, Espagnols, Allemands, Portugais, Anglois, Hollandois, Persans, Arabes & autres
Orientaux.' The fourth volume came out in 1672,
and each of the volumes was reissued from time to
time,with new title-pages, the latest dated 1696. Including copies on large paper and other peculiarities
dear to bibliophiles, the French Thevenot is almost
as fruitful a subject for detailed study as De Bry or
Hulsius. When he died, some of the material for a
fifth volume was nearly ready for publication, and
this was printed in such form as to increase the intricacies of the series and make it additionally difficult to say what a satisfactory set ought to embrace.
The Library has Henry Huth's copy, which is equivalent to assurance that it was the best that was to
be had. In curious contrast to the monumental
form of his 'Voyages curieux' is a little octavo volume entitled ' Recueil de voyages de Mr. Thevenot,'
Paris, i68I, which is of fundamental importance to
a Michigan library because to it was appended the
earliest printed account of the travels of Marquette
and Joliet.




Chapter VI


THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA
T   HE line of demarcation between the period of
Discovery and that of Colonization is not distinctly drawn. Colonists followed close on the
heels of explorers, and many a post established as a
basis for inland reconnaissance or as a centre for
gathering articles of trade developed into a self-contained settlement. Fate led the Spaniards to the
regions where the equivalents of European wealth,
gold and silver, existed in the most easily converted
forms, and where soil and climatic conditions invited the development of all that is worst in the natural tendencies of the Hispanic race. The French,
having second choice, took the fur regions, where
nature and the natives combined to develop the
better side of their national characteristics. Englishmen had to take what was left, and got the best
of all that the New World had to offer.
The lust for gold, the desire for wealth and the
power which it gives, was the one all-controlling
incentive that drove the representatives of each of
these three rival races into the hidden corners of the
earth. But the individuals who led the way were
dominated in nearly every instance less by mercenary motives, except as these enabled them to se76




THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA         77
cure funds with which to finance their plans, than
by the equally powerful inborn uneasiness at home,
which forces certain men of every race to go forth
and conquer the unknown. These men are the forerunners of each generation, the guides and leaders of
exploration, of discovery, of invention.
By far the larger part of what: was recorded of the
period of exploration was written by the representatives of another group, who were never far behind
the foremost of the wanderers and the exploiters.
These were the men who gave themselves up to the
task of advancing the limits of the Kingdom of God.
With very few, but unfortunately conspicuous, exceptions, they were animated by the most sublime
motives and carried out their mission with superb
self-sacrifice as well as keen intelligence. The individuals were human beings, possessed by the traits
of the race of which they were born as well as by the
training of the organization which had made them a
part of itself. Those upon whom the American historical investigator has to depend for much of his
information, for the most part: labored and wrote
far from the restraints and the control of civilized
conditions. ]n the Spanish colonies, the missionaries were always involved in a two-fold controversy, between the friars and the regular clergy on
the one hand, and between the rival religious orders
on the other. This unending competition between
these bitter rivals supplies a key to much of the
history of Spain and of its colonies throughout




78 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the centuries. New France was happier, for there,
partly because there was less worth fighting for,
the Society of Jesus secured a virtual monopoly
of the care for religious matters, and its brethren
won well-nigh universal respect and praise for their
self-sacrificing devotion and unflinching courage in
carrying the Gospel of Christianity, as they knew
it, to the outermost limits.
In considering the books which deal with the development of the French interests in North America, it is interesting, for the moment, to shift the
point of view from the general to the local, and see
how these appear to one whose home and interests
are in the State of Michigan.
Etienne Brule, who accompanied Champlain on
his expedition to Georgian Bay in i6i8, and later
visited the region adjoining Lake Superior, made
reports which are incorporated in the volumes of
Champlain and of Sagard. Jean Nicolet, a member
of Champlain's "Hundred Associates," found the
way to Lake Huron and was the first to view Lake
Michigan. Continuing westward along the Wisconsin River, he came almost to the Mississippi.
His story is told in part in the 'Jesuit Relations' for
i640 and 1643, two volumes in the long series which
will be described in a later paragraph.
Michigan history, as recorded by the earliest
French visitors, begins with the carefully made
notes of Peter Esprit Radisson, who set down what
he saw and did in his wanderings in the territory of




THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA          79
the present Michigan and Wisconsin, going as far
west as the Mississippi, and through the Lake Superior regions well toward Hudson's Bay. Between
1652 and 1664 he made four journeys from the Canadian outposts, accompanied by his brother-in-law,
the Sieur des Groseilliers. The important details
from the reports of these explorers were consolidated
by the Jesuit Father Charlevoix, who embodied
portions of Radisson's manuscript notes in the three
volumes of his 'Histoire et description generale
de la Nouvelle France, avec le Journal Historique
d'un voyage fait par 1 ordre du Roi dans l'Amerique
Septentrionnale' printed at Paris in I744. Of
this important work there is an excellent translation
by John Gilmary Shea, in six volumes, New York,
1866-72. To these two comparatively unknown
French adventurers must be given the credit of
originating the idea of forming a settlement on
Hudson's Bay, out of which the English genius for
organization developed the great fur company that
still dominates the northeastern part of the continent.
Portions of the original manuscript of Radisson's
narrative have been preserved at the British Museum and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The
manuscript formed a part of the library of the great
diarist, Samuel Pepys, who secured it from the Sir
George Carteret of his time. After the death of
Pepys, some of the Radisson notes were thrown out
as waste paper, but the remainder were luckily pre



80 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
served and later came into the possession of Richard
Rawlinson, whose great collection in turn passed
into the British Museum. They cover the years
from I652 to I664, and have been published in a
volume of the Prince Society, of whose publications
the Library has the full series.
The early maps of the Great Lakes are of the utmost importance to students of the history of Michigan. The earliest were drawn by Champlain and
were published in the successive editions of his Voyages. Next in date comes another manuscript map,
in the Archives de la Marine at Paris. This is
the earliest of the twenty important manuscript
maps in the French archives of which full-sized photographic copies have been made for the Library.
The 'Jesuit Relation' for I67O-7I contains a welldefined map of the Lake Superior region. The
Creuxius map, 'Tabula Nova Francia,' is dated
i660, and includes not only the northern Lake region
but Hudson's Bay as well.
The coming of Comte Louis de Buade de Frontenac to Canada in I672, as Governor and Lieutenant-General, marks the beginning of an epoch in
aggressive undertakings for the discoveryof the vast
countries far to the west of those then known. The
establishment of forts and trading posts followed
close on the trail of exploration. Frontenac's associates were the men whom we now regard as the
true discoverers of the vast region east of the Mississippi River, and even beyond, the lower part of the




THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA         8I
territory which was a little later known as Louisiana in New France. The northern limits of exploration extended as far as Hudson's Bay. These men
were Louis Joliet, who preceded the coming of
Frontenac by three years, Father Jacques Marquette, and Robert Cavelier de La Salle.
The ambitions of Frontenac were ably supported
by the equally ambitious La Salle. Fort Frontenac
was built, and La Salle was sent to France in 1674
for the purpose of securing authority, funds, and
men for a scheme for colonizing the vast areas in the
valley of the Mississippi, and exploring the countries adjacent to the Great Lakes. He soon returned, bringing with him Henri Tonti and some
thirty men —shipbuilders and adventurers. La
Salle went to France again two years later, and
brought back with him Father Louis Hennepin.
The account of the building of the famous ship, the
"Griffin," at the port below Niagara Falls, by La
Salle, Tonti, and their shipbuilders, sixteen in number, possibly assisted by the Franciscan Hennepin,
is a well-known tale of the Great Lakes. The sailing
of the " Griffin" up the Lakes, the shipwreck on the
return voyage, the separation of La Salle and Tonti,
and finally their meeting again at the St. Joseph
River, the southeastern corner of Lake Michigan,
are tales of true adventure.
The expeditions and incidental discoveries of
these two men during the years I680 to 1682, are
the most important of their careers. Whether or




82   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
not they were preceded by Marquette in traversing
this region, in making the portages between Lake
Michigan and the Mississippi, or in sailing down the
latter river to the Gulf, they made good the claim of
France to the Valley of the Mississippi, from that
time named Louisiana. La Salle demonstrated that
the great area he had traversed could be reached
through the Gulf of Mexico, and upon this discovery his future ambitions were based. He returned
to Quebec in 1683 and to Paris in 1684, and in an
interview with Louis XIV made known his plans,
which were warmly supported by the king. The
result was a new and larger expedition for the purpose of fortifying the mouth of the Mississippi and
subjugating the nearby Spanish colonies. In this he
was joined by Henri Joutel, upon whose account we
rely chiefly for the events of the expedition, which
sailed in July, I684. It is unnecessary to dwell upon
the disastrous end of this voyage and the murder
of La Salle by his associates in 1687.
The earliest comprehensive account of these
events was printed at Paris in I69I, in Father
Chrestien Le Clercq's 'Premier itablissement de
la Foy dans la Nouvelle France, contenant la publication de l'Evangile, l'Histoire des Colonies Fran~oises, & les fameuses decouvertes depuis le fleuve
de Saint Laurent, la Louisiane, & le fleuve Colbert
jusqu'au Golphe du Mexique.' The work was
written by Father Anastase Douay, but the accuracy of his statements was certified by Father




THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA         83
Le Clercq, by whose name the book is always
known. In 1697 at Paris Tonti published 'Dernieres decouvertes dans l'Amerique Septentrionale
de M. de La Sale.' Joutel, the official chronicler
of the final expedition, did not get into print until
I713, in a volume entitled 'Journal historique du
dernier voyage que feu M. de La Sale fit dans la
Golfe de Mexique, pour trouver l'embouchure & le
cours de la riviere de Missicipi,' Paris, I7I3. An
English version of this volume appeared at London
the next year. These contain only an abridgment
of the journal kept by Joutel, which was luckily
preserved in manuscript, and eventually printed at
London in 1879 by Pierre Margry in his 'Decouvertes.' The Caxton Club of Chicago issued in
1898 a new English version of these narratives of
La Salle, Tonti, and Joutel.
One ambition of Frontenac was to plant the flag
of France far beyond the Lakes toward the northwest. Louis Joliet was commissioned to do this.
The missionary Jacques Marquette joined him, and
together they reached the Mississippi, following the
stream down its course until they came to the Illinois portage. The maps of Joliet, of which the
Library has copies photographed from the original
manuscripts in the Paris archives, show the extent
of territory covered by this expedition. These
maps and the accompanying reports giving an account of the prairies, forests, and animals of these
regions, are the earliest extant description of what
is now the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.




84 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
The account of the expedition sent by Marquette
to Frontenac remained in manuscript until it was
printed by Margry in I879. The first printed account of the discovery of the Mississippi appeared in
the 'Recueil de Voyages' of Thevenot, Paris, I68I.
This was also issued separately with the title 'Voyage et decouverte de quelques pays et nations de
l'Amerique Septentrionale par le P. Marquette et
Sr. Joliet.' The map which accompanies this volume is the earliest that shows the course of the
river with any accuracy. This narrative had already been used by Father Dablon for his annual
report, but by this time the series of regular volumes containing the 'Relations' of the missionaries
in Canada had ceased, and Dablon's report was not
printed until I86I. Marquette died on his way to
the mission of St. Ignace, at a point on the eastern
shore of Lake Michigan near St. Joseph. The event
is described in the 'Jesuit Relation' for I675.
The expeditions and discoveries of Daniel Greysolon de Lhut, who had made two voyages to New
France as early as 1674, and in 1679 penetrated into
the Sioux country beyond Lake Superior, planting
the French flag farther west than any of his contemporaries, made him the earliest European visitor
to the present Minnesota. His 'Memoire' of 1683
was printed at Paris in 1872 by Henri Harrisse in
his 'Notes pour servir a l'histoire, a la bibliographie
et a la cartographie de la Nouvelle-France.' The
substance of it appeared, however, in Hennepin's




THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA           85
'Description de la Louisiane,' in 1683. This may
also be found, together with the principal facts
about the other exploring expeditions throughout
the region of the Great Lakes, in Charlevoix's 'Histoire de la Nouvelle France,' Paris, 1744.
In reviewing the important source material for
the history of New France, frequent reference has
been made to the 'Jesuit Relations.' In gathering
these little volumes containing the annual reports
of the missionaries in America, it is fortunate, and
an unusual condition, that here both the historian's
and the collector's ambitions harmonize. Both are
intensely interested in securing the complete file for
a long series of years. Historically and geographically, for a study of the period and region, they are
of the greatest importance. For the collector of
rare books and for the bibliographer, the search is
one of engrossing interest, but disappointment is
certain, for there is nowhere a complete collection of
these Jesuit tracts in any single library. There are
in the Library forty-eight of the regular series of
the 'Relations,' extending over the years from 1632
to 1672. The only years missing are the first(I632),
I656, and 1660. For several of the years there is
more than one edition or issue. In addition to
these, it has the Italian text of Father Bressani's
'Breve Relatione,' with the imprint 'Macerata,
I653.' A bulletin describing this set of the 'Relations' was printed by the Library in I92I.
Several of the 'Relations' written after 1672,




86   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
when the annual series of volumes printed by Cramoisy at Paris stopped, were issued in limited editions, usually of twenty-five copies only, during the
third quarter of the nineteenth century. Eight of
these were distributed privately by James Lenox or
E. B. O'Callaghan, and twenty-five were issued by
Rev. James Gilmary Shea, the Catholic historian.
The regular series were reprinted at Quebec in
three solid volumes in 1853; an edition that at once
became rare, as most of the copies were destroyed
by fire. The definitive edition appeared, I896 to
1901, under the editorship of Reuben Gold Thwaites
of the Wisconsin Historical Society, in twenty-three
volumes, with English translations, and adequate
bibliographical notes by Victor Hugo Paltsits.
The earliest historical account of the work of
these Jesuit missionaries is in Le Clercq's 'Premier
PItablissement de la Foy.' This is distinctly prejudiced against the Jesuits, as the author's purpose
was to exalt the work of his brethren of the Recollect Order. Three other books may be mentioned
in this connection; P. Claude Martin's 'Lettres de
la venerable Mere Marie de l'Incarnation,' Paris,
1681; 'Histoire generale de la naissance, des progres,
et la destruction de la Compagnie de Jesus en
France,' Paris, 1763; and August Carayon's 'Bibliographie historique de la Compagnie de Jesus,'
Paris, 1864.
We are not concerned here with Louis Hennepin
as a controversialist, who indulged in wordy dis



THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA 87
putes with La Salle, with the Jesuits, and finally
with the Recollects, of whose Order he was a member when he came to America. The first to accuse
him of falsehood and plagiarism was Charlevoix,
but as he was a Jesuit, this might be explained.
With the exception of Dr. Shea, no later critic attempts to reestablish Hennepin's reputation as a
truthful narrator, after the publication of his earliest work, the 'Description de la Louisiane,' which
appeared at Paris in 1683. This is ordinarily accepted as a truthful document.
Hennepin, after this book came out, refused to
return to America. He thereby incurred the discipline of his Order and was obliged to leave France.
At Utrecht he republished the 'Description,' and
translations of this came out in Dutch, German,
and Italian. In 1697 he issued an enlarged work
with the title 'Nouvelle Decouverte d'une tres
Grand Pays situe dans l'Amerique entre le Nouveau Mexique et la Mer Glaciale,' Utrecht, I697.
The first Utrecht edition was promptly followed by
one with an Amsterdam imprint the next year, and
the first Dutch translation came out at the same
place a year later, followed by another at Leyden in
I704. It is in this work that the alleged mendacity
appears. Hennepin, forced out of his religious order
and compelled to make a living by his pen, utilized
his knowledge of the New World and such reputation as came from his 'Louisiane,' to produce a book
of travels that would sell to the reading public. The




88   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
success of the work, as evidenced by the rapid succession of editions in many languages, must have
exceeded his highest hopes. He wrote an interesting
book, securing success by presenting the narrative
as if everything was the outcome of his own experiences. Accuracy in essential facts he secured by
appropriating La Salle's discovery of the Mississippi, copying Father Membres' journal of the trip
from Le Clercq's 'Premier ]gtablissement,' although
in this he anticipated events and confused historians
by carrying the exploration down the whole length
of the river to its mouth.
Hennepin's third and final work was a 'Nouveau
Voyage d'un Pais plus grand que l'Europe. Avec
les reflections des entreprises du Sieur de La Salle.'
This was printed at Utrecht in I698. It is largely
made up from Le Clercq, with substantial additions
from other books. About the same time he prepared for English readers a work entitled 'A New
Discovery of a vast country in America,' which was
printed at London in I698. This was produced by
combining portions of the 'Nouveau Voyage' with
parts of the earlier 'Nouvelle D couverte,' thus giving a fresh version of certain events that completely
mystified many historical students who did not perceive that they were dealing with historical fiction
under one of its familiar forms.
Lahontan is another writer whose name is frequently associated with that of Hennepin. Equally
unreliable in certain sections of his narrative, La



THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA         89
hontan was never a plagiarist or a slanderer. His
imagination made him a prince of American fabricators, but he frequently told the exact truth when
there was no object in lying. His statements about
what passed before his own eyes are usually trustworthy. When he drew a map, his imagination,
assisted by the reports of the Indians whom he
talked with but whom he presumably could not
understand accurately, supplied the course for his
notorious 'River Longue' extending to the Rocky
Mountains, the reality of which was accepted until
the time of Charlevoix. Even as late as I733 the
influence of this river can be seen on the map in
Popple's celebrated Atlas, of which the Library has
Count Talleyrand's copy, with his autograph signature on the title-page. Yet it must be said in full
justice to the Baron Lahontan that the earlier part
of his book, including the account of his experiences
at Fort St. Joseph and the upper lakes, as well as
the descriptions of Indian life, is generally admitted
to be quite true. His book is well written and
abounds in great humor and in sarcasm worthy of
Pepys himself.
The immense circulation of the books written by
Hennepin and Lahontan, and the resultant influence of the popularity of which this is the evidence,
is shown by the large number of editions, in all the
European languages, through which they passed. It
is a favorite occupation of the collectors of Americana to specialize on these two authors and gather




9o


WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


as many of the editions as possible. To the student
whose interest stops with the event recorded, and
who lacks imagination to realize that the important
thing is not the event itself, but the consequences
that follow from it, all these various editions are
meaningless. Any one of them, provided the text is
intact, would do as well as another. There are
other investigators who perceive that the real significance of any event lies in the influence it had upon
contemporary opinion and action. Many extraordinary things have occurred in every epoch, which
ought to have produced equally important results,
but of which the most that can be said is that
nobody paid any attention to them. Historical
researchers have delighted to exhume the details
of such happenings, and many volumes have been
written to elucidate what might have been. One of
the functions of such a library as this, is to help in
restoring the balance of historical judgment by providing the evidence of contemporary publications
through which the student can find out, not only
what happened in the past, but what the contemporaries of the event thought about it and about the
participants in it. Nothing reveals more clearly
what the European public knew about North America during the first half of the eighteenth century
than a shelf full of editions of Hennepin and Lahontan. The Library has secured the earliest editions
of each of these publications, and a representative
assortment of the subsequent issues and transla



THE FRENCH IN NORTH AMERICA         9I
tions. No single library has yet attained actual
completeness for any of these popular authors, but
there are excellent bibliographies from which the
range of their influence can be studied. For Hennepin, the list compiled by Eames for Sabin's 'Dictionary of American Books' has been supplemented
by Shea and Livingston. Paltsits prepared a bibliography of Lahontan for Thwaites's I905 English
version of the original. Of the twenty-nine editions
described by him, the Library has already nineteen,
all but one printed between I7o3 and I74I.
An examination of the Hakluyt-Martyr map prepared for the edition of the 'De Orbe Novo,' printed
at Paris in 1587, or the even more famous Molyneux
map, which was begun about that time but not published until ten years later, when it was sometimes
included in Hakluyt's 'Principal Navigations' of
I598-I600, proves that by the end of the seventeenth century the coast line of both North and
South America had been outlined with approximate
correctness. Vast sections of the interior were still
unvisited, and of many regions there were not even
trustworthy reports, but from Hudson's Bay
around to Vancouver the main features of the two
continents had been determined in all essential details as they appear on the maps to-day. The Period
of Discovery had passed into its final stages by the
end of the sixteenth century, but it was not until a
hundred years later that the geographers succeeded
in assimilating the results of observation.




Chapter VII
VIRGINIA
ENGLISH people always delight in extolling
the daring adventures of Sir Francis Drake,
and with even greater enthusiasm they love to
dwell upon the romance in the life of Sir Walter
Raleigh - his bravery -in the adventures that befell him as soldier and sailor, as courtier and statesman, ever ready to play his part in glorious deeds,
renowned as one of the most picturesque figures in
the history of England and America. His life ended
on the scaffold, where he met death with neverfailing composure, to satisfy the selfish and bigoted
whim of the first Stuart who disgraced the British
throne - a lasting shame to the England of that
time. We view the close of his career, which had
as little reprehensible in it as could be, with a feeling of indignation that the great Lord Bacon, so
capable of nobler things, should after his beheading
write 'A Declaration of the Demeanor and Carriage of Sir Walter Raleigh' - a defence of King
James so grossly misrepresenting Raleigh that it
serves only to emphasize the "damnation of his
taking off."
Raleigh was a pioneer in the cause of English
colonization. He was not favored with success in


92




VIRGINIA.


93


any of the expeditions which he fathered, yet his
very disasters served to create and to stimulate the
spirit of adventurous enterprise which gave Great
Britain in later years her many colonies. And it
was one of his expeditions which first landed English colonists on the'south Atlantic coast of North
America, and gave this region the name of Virginia.
His first trans-Atlantic voyage, on which Raleigh
proved himself as good a sailor as he had been a
soldier, was undertaken with his half-brother, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert; in 1578. This led him to formulate more elaborate plans for colonization. From
Queen Elizabeth he received in 1584 a charter under which he designed to plant a settlement north
of Spanish Florida. A voyage of reconnoissance
made a landing not far from Chesapeake Bay, and
such favorable reports of the country were carried
back to London that the "Virgin Queen" allowed
it to be christened in honor of her maiden state. Extensive preparations for establishing a colony in this
region were quickly completed, with Ralph Lane in
charge of the settlers and Sir Richard Grenville as
master of the fleet that was to transport them. The
party was put ashore on Roanoke Island, where a
fortification was erected. Attempts at exploration
of the mainland nearby led to troubles with the
natives. The settlers exhausted their supplies and
were reduced to famine rations, so that they were
glad to accept the offer of a homeward trip to England with Sir Francis Drake, who by a lucky chance




94    WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
looked in on the settlement as he was returning
from sacking the Spaniards at San Domingo, Carthagena, and St. Augustine. Two of the colonists
took back with them precious evidence that they
had not been idle. One was Raleigh's close friend,
the mathematician Thomas Hariot, a careful observer and accurate writer; the other was the artist
John White.
Hariot's account of the country was printed in
a small quarto tract which is the piece de resistance
for historians as well as for book-collectors who are
interested in Anglo-American colonization. I prefer
to let Henry Stevens explain its importance, quoting from his little book on 'Thomas Hariot and
his Associates,' printed in 89o0: "Collectors of rare
English books always speak reverently and even
mysteriously of the 'quarto Hariot,' as they do of
the 'First Folio.' It is given to but few of them
ever to touch or to see it, for not more than seven
copies are at present known to exist. Even four
of these are locked up in public libraries whence
they are never likely to pass into private hands.
One copy is in the Grenville Library; another is in
the Bodleian; a third slumbers in the University of
Leyden; a fourth is in the Lenox Library; a fifth in
Lord Taunton's; a sixth in the late Henry Huth's;
and a seventh [was sold] in 1883 in the Drake sale.
"The little quarto volume of Hariot's Virginia is
as important as it is rare, and as beautiful as it is
important. Few English books of its time, I588,




VIRGINIA                95
surpass it either in typographic execution or literary merit....
"Hariot's 'True Report' is usually considered
the first original authority in our language relating
to that part of English North America now called
the United States, and is indeed so full and trustworthy that almost everything of a primeval character that we know of 'Ould Virginia' may be
traced back to it as to a first parent. It is an integral portion of English history, for England supplied the enterprise and the men. It is equally an
integral portion of American history, for America
supplied the scene and the material....
"Raleigh's Virginia soon faded, but her portrait
to the life is to be found in Hariot's book, especially
when taken with the pictures by Captain John
White....   Hariot and White have left us...
their picturesque account of the savage life and lavish nature of pre-Anglo-Virginia, the like of which
we look for in vain elsewhere, either in Spanish,
French, or English colonization.
"Indeed, nearly all we know of the uncontaminated American aborigines, their mode of life and
domestic economy, is derived from this book, and
therefore its influence and results as an original
authority cannot well be overestimated. We have
many Spanish and French books of a kindred character, but none so lively and life-like as this by
Hariot."
And again Stevens says: "This book of Hariot's




96   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
with Laudonniere's Florida, taken in connection
with Captain John White's and Jacques Le Moyne's
pictures, as reproduced by Theodore De Bry in
I59o and I59I, in the first two parts of his celebrated Collection of Voyages, affords at this day
more authentic materials for the early history of
the Atlantic Coast of North America, from the
River of May to the Chesapeake, than any other
portion of the New World, Spanish or English, can
boast of."
When a copy of Hariot's famous little book was
offered in the Henry Huth auction sale of I913, a bid
was made for it on behalf of the Library, but the
successful purchaser was the almost equally famous
bookseller, Bernard Quaritch of London. From
him it was eventually secured by private negotiation a year later. The text of the tract was reprinted in I590 by Theodore De Bry of Frankfort,
as the initial volume of what was to become the
most important of all the published Collections of
Voyages. It is the only narrative of De Bry's great
series which was issued in English and French as
well as in Latin and German. The Library has all
four of these; the English copy was formerly Lord
Taunton's, acquired in I920.
Raleigh spent the greater part of his fortune in
a succession of attempts to colonize Virginia and to
retrieve his losses by finding the rumored El Dorado
up the Orinoco. The story of his own voyage to
South America in I595 is told in 'The Discoverie




VIRGINIA                97
of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empyre of Guiana,' printed at London in I596. A second voyage
was equally unsuccessful under his lieutenant
Lawrence Keymis, whose 'Relation' of his adventures was printed before the end of the same year.
With these narratives should be compared, by those
who wish to know more of one of the great figures of
Elizabethan England, the 'History of the World,'
written by Raleigh after King James had confined
him to the Tower - a record of industry under
conditions that would have unnerved an ordinary
man.
The failures of Raleigh served but to whet the
British appetite for possession of the wonderful
land described by Harlot. In i606, Richard Hakluyt, Sir Thomas Gates, and Sir Richard Somers secured from the Crown a grant under which they
sent out three vessels commanded by Christopher
Newport, Bartholomew Gosnold, and John Radcliffe. With them was the redoubtable Captain
John Smith, who, so he says, selected the spot,
about fifty miles up-stream on a river which they
named the James, on which they resolved to build
a town which they christened Jamestown. Captain
Smith's 'True Relation of such Occurences and
Accidents of Noate, as hath hapned in Virginia,
since the first Planting of that Collony, which is
now Resident in the South Part thereof, till the last
Returne from thence,' was published at London in
I608. It gives a detailed account, which is regarded




98 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
as essentially reliable, and is the source of such information as the general public at that time possessed of the hardships and well-nigh actual starvation endured by the colonists during the first year
at Jamestown. This is the rarest of Smith's many
writings, and the Library's copy of this, as well as
of several other Virginia tracts, came from Britwell
Court, where the Christie-Miller library had its
home.
Captain John Smith left Virginia, never to return, in September, I609. Although he made a
later voyage to the New England coast, and wrote
of his adventures there and elsewhere, it is as the
folk-hero of Virginia that we all think of him. Without his books and maps, much of the romance of
that first Anglo-American colony would not exist.
Smith was about twenty-eight years of age when in
Virginia, and had already seen enough of the world
to provide himself with material for tales of adventure sufficient to satisfy an ordinary lifetime. From
i 606 to the time of his death in 1 631, nine tracts
or larger volumes were published by him or in his
name, all but two of which relate to the American
settlements. Several of these passed through more
than one edition or issue. Altered title-pages and
changes in the text, as well as the addition of new
data on the maps which were made to accompany
his publications, make these a subject of the first
importance in bibliographical circles, calling for the
widest information and the keenest critical acumen




VIRGINIA


99


on the part of anyone who undertakes to elucidate
their intricacies.
Smith's 'True Relation' of Virginia, previously
mentioned, appeared with three different titlepages,- three "issues" of the same work,-with
changes the reason for which calls for explanation.
In 1612 came the so-called "Oxford tract," entitled 'A Map of Virginia. With a Description of
the country.' This map is found in eight different
states or conditions; the Library's copy is one of
three on record as being on this side of the Atlantic,
of the first or earliest of these states, before Smith's
arms, motto, and date were engraved on the plate.
This tract, as well as the map, was later embodied
in his 'Generall Historie,' and again, with some alterations, in Purchas's 'Pilgrimes.' The "Oxford
tract" was followed by Smith's 'Description of New
England,' London, I616, which was also accompanied by a map, of which more will be said later.
His next publication was 'New Englands Trials,'
printed in 1620 and reprinted in 1622.
Smith's most important work, into which he incorporated the text of his lesser writings on the
colonies, excepting the 'True Relation,'was 'The
generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the
Summer Isles; with the names of the Adventurers,
Planters and Governours from their first beginning
An0: 1584 to this present 1624. With the Procedings
of those Severall Colonies and the Accidents that
befell them in all their Journyes and Discoveries.




too  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Also the Maps and Descriptions of all those Countryes, their Commodities, People, Government,
Customs, and Religion yet knowne.' Published
first in I624, it was reissued in I626, 1627, and
twice in I632; of these the Library has the first and
the last two. It is rarely that the I624 edition can
be seen, as here, in its original vellum covers and
latchets, with the early states of the maps and
plates, and the portrait of the Duchess of Richmond, always desired by collectors. The first of the
I632 issues came from the library of Samuel Wegg,
one of the early officers of the Hudson Bay Company, and has his bookplate.
The 'Generall Historie' was supplemented in
I630 by 'The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine John Smith, In Europe,
Asia, Affrica, and America, from Anno Domini I593
to I629.' In I63I, the year of Smith's death, appeared his 'Advertisements for the Unexperienced
Planters of New-England, or anywhere. Or, the
Path-way to experience to erect a Plantation.'
Both are in the Library.
George Sandys translating Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' into English verse on the banks of the
James River is one of the most picturesque figures
among the earliest colonists. It was, in Professor
Tyler's phrase, the first "expression of elaborate
poetry, the first utterance of the conscious literary
spirit, articulated in America." The work of this
officer of the Company was so well done that it at



VIRGINIA


IOI


tained immediate recognition in England, and
passed through eight editions before the end of the
seventeenth century. In the first edition, printed
at London in I626, and dedicated to King Charles,
Sandys refers with much feeling to the disasters
in the American colony. The Library's copy, the
second edition of I632, is the largest of many examined, bound in contemporary calf, with elaborate
tooling of the period. It is a beautiful volume,
and contains the handsome armorial bookplate of
Bridgewater House. On the title-page is the signature of J. Brackley. The first Viscount Brackley
was Sir Thomas Egerton, afterwards Baron Ellesmere, and founder of the renowned Bridgewater
Library. John, the second Viscount Brackley, who
wrote his name on this title-page, was the second
son of Sir Thomas; he was afterwards Earl of
Bridgewater, and a friend of Milton.
Tyler remarks: "John Milton was born into life,
and the first: American book of literature was born
into print, in the same year, and almost on the
same spot." That same patron of Milton and of
learning must have appreciated the work of Sandys
to have honored it by his signature and by so handsome a binding.
Richard tHakluyt's contribution toward the success of the infant colony was published in I609, with
the title 'Virginia richly valued, by the description of the Maineland of Florida, her next neighbour.' This tract is the rarest of Hakluyt's works,




102  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
and the Library's copy is unusually large and in
fine preservation. Another tract that appeared at
this time and likewise at Hakluyt's instigation was
a translation from Lescarbot, entitled 'Nova Francia or the Description of that part of New France
which is one continent with Virginia,' London,
1609.
Later happenings in the colony were narrated in a
succession of tracts that appeared in I609, such as:
'Nova Britannia, offering most excellent fruites
by Planting in Virginia'; 'A Good Speed to Virginia'; and a sermon by William Symonds before
the London Company of Virginia Adventurers. Another important sermon was published the next
year, following its delivery before Lord Delaware,
upon his leaving for America, by William Crashaw.
Likewise dated I6Io is 'A True Declaration of the
Estate of the colonie in Virginia,' which is important because it was written for the purpose of advocating the abandonment of the project. Lord Delaware arrived at Jamestown in I6io, and the account
of his year's administration is told in 'The Relation of the Right Honourable the Lord De La
Warre, Lord Governour and Captaine Generall of
the Colonie, planted in Virginia.' This tract was
issued by authority of the "Counsell" in I611, and
gives an accurate account of how the colony was organized and governed at this time. Robert Johnson's 'The new Life of Virginea, declaring the
former successe and present estate of that planta



VIRGINIA


I0o3


tion,' printed in I6I2, appeared as the 'Second
part of Nova Britannia.' Alexander Whitaker's
'Good Newes from Virginia,' printed in I6I3, was
written by a parson and has the merit of giving a
truthful picture of the country, its climate and natives, intermingled with thoughts suitable for a
sermon. All the above are in the Library.
The story was continued by the secretary of the
colony, Ralph Hamor, in 'A true Discourse of the
Present Estate of Virginia and the successe of the
affaire there till the I8 of June, I6I4,' printed at
London in I6I5. Hamor's narrative, which was
reprinted by both De Bry and Hulsius in their
'Collections,' marks the turning point in the fortunes of the colony, and the real beginning of a permanent settlement. Lists of immigrants and of
venturers whose money was invested in the enterprise were printed at London in I620, in 'A Declaration of the State of the colony and affairs in
Virginia.'
There were periodical signs of a revival of interest
in the Virginia colony, in subsequent years. In I649
William Bullock somewhat hurriedly prepared a
tract as an incentive and guide for prospective settlers, entitled 'Virginia impartially examined, and
left to publick view, to be considered by all judicious and honest men.' Bullock never crossed the
Atlantic, but he proved himself a skillful compiler
from the writings of Smith and the others already
mentioned, as well as an intelligent interviewer of
sea-captains. The Huth copy is in the Library.




104 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
A number of tracts on the planting of mulberry
trees and the culture of silkworms reveal one of the
ways to an easy fortune which were offered as an
inducement to those who were thinking of removing
to America. Among these the most important is
Samuel Hartlib's 'The Reformed Virginian Silkworm, or A rare and new discovery of a speedy way,
and easie means... for the feeding of Silk-worms
in the Woods, on the Mulberry-Tree-leaves in Virginia: Who after fourty days time, present their
most rich golden-coloured silken Fleece, to the instant wonderful enriching of all the Planters there,
requiring from them neither cost, labour, or hindrance in any of their other employments whatsoever,' London, I655.
Another important book, which shows how the
limits of the colony were being extended, appeared
at London in I672, 'The Discoveries of John
Lederer, in three several marches from Virginia.'
Virginia historical literature abounds in tracts
relating to specific and important events, such as
Bacon's Rebellion and the resulting troubles with
the Indians, and a succession of civil controversies,
in which the political are inextricably mingled with
economic factors. These tracts are of the utmost
rarity, frequently surviving in a single known copy,
but they have almost all been reprinted in 'Force's
Tracts' or in the publications of one or another
historical society. These later publications are of
the highest importance to historical investigators,




VIRGINIA


Io5


and the University possesses most of them, either
in this or in the General Library. Copies of the
originals are by no means altogether lacking, for
here may be found the 'Strange Newes from Virginia' of I677, and Sir Thomas Grantham's 'An
Historical Account of some memorable Actions,
particularly in Virginia,' London, I716, written in
reply to a proclamation by the tyrannical Governor
Berkeley, and others. None of these "occasional"
tracts is of greater significance or fuller of material
of permanent historical value than 'The Present
State of Virginia and the College,' by Hartwell,
Blair, and Chilton, an invaluable exposition of the
state of affairs in the colony as presented by the
President of William and Mary, College and two of
his close friends in I727.
The earliest of the eighteenth-century Virginia
publications was Robert Beverley's 'The History
and Present State of Virginia,' London, I705, the
first genuine history after that of John Smith. Beverley reprinted largely from Hariot and others, without pretending to make original researches, as was
customary with historical authors of his time; but
Professor Moses Coit Tyler in his 'Historyof American Literature' states that the work possesses considerable literary merit. In I728 appeared William
Keith's 'History of Virginia.' This was planned
to be the first of a series of volumes on the British
Plantations in America; but the Society for the
Encouragement of Learning, under whose patron



io6 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


age the work was begun, failed to carry the project
beyond the Virginia volume. The text leans altogether upon Beverley. The Library's copy consists
of the untrimmed sheets in the original paper wrapper, preserved in a slip case, with the two maps, of
America and Virginia.
The next general history was a work of real merit,
containing the text of original charters and extracts
from the early records. This 'History of the First
Discovery and Settlement of Virginia,' by William
Stith, was printed in the colony, at Williamsburg,
in I747.
Just at the moment of transition from colonial to
independent conditions, Thomas Jefferson printed
privately at Paris a volume which will always have
great interest to the bibliographer and collector as
well as to the historian. Its title exactly describes it
as 'Notes on the state of Virginia written in the
year I78I, somewhat corrected and enlarged in the
winter of I782, for the use of a foreigner of distinction.' The edition must have been a small one.
Copies were sent by Jefferson to a limited number
of his correspondents, in confidence, for their information and criticisms. The volume has biographical as well as historical value, because Jefferson felt
free to express many opinions on subjects only remotely connected with the economic and political
matters with which he was primarily concerned.
In i804 the first volume of John Daly Burk's
'History of Virginia, from its first settlement to




VIRGINIA               Io7
the present clay' was published at Petersburg, Virginia; the fourth and last, which is ordinarily missing from sets of the work, was issued by Skelton
Jones and L. H. Girardin in I8I6. Burk, who was
killed in a duel in I8o8, used the early Company
Records freely, as well as the books of preceding
historians. The fourth volume is particularly valuable as one of the earliest histories of the American
Revolution, embodying a good deal of material
which was then available relating to the war and
political developments in the southern colonies.
Other histories of Virginia, of relatively little value,
although not to be entirely neglected, were the work
of John Wilson Campbell, published in I813, and
of his son, Charles Campbell, whose 'Introduction
to the History of the Ancient: Dominion,' printed
in I847, was expanded into a substantial volume
that brought the narrative to the close of the
Revolutionary War, and appeared in the year that
marked the end of another epoch - i 860.




Chapter VIII
THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH IN
NEW ENGLAND
Y the year i620 the Virginians at Jamestown
had overcome most of the hardships incidental
to the foundation of a settlement in a strange land
and among hostile natives. The colonists had begun to raise crops to supply their own needs as well
as for export to the mother country. The adventurers in the enterprise, who belonged to the liberal
party in Parliament, were successful men of influence in business and in political circles.  (I
On the other hand, the Charter for a colony in
the northern portion of the territory claimed by the
English crown was controlled by men to whom Fate
had been anything but kind. Tentative efforts had
brought nothing but failure, and the organization
was lifeless, except for the persistence of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. He had spent his fortune in venturesome enterprises, but was still willing to involve
himself financially, in his enthusiasm and in the confident belief that a profitable return could yet be
won from the northern region that had been granted
to him and his associates.
In I620 those who remained of the old Company,
under the name of The Council for New England,
zo8




THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH         I09
asked for a new charter, which was granted late
in that year. A bitter controversy over fishing,
trading, and mining rights ensued between the two
sections of the original Company, personified in
Gorges and Sir Edwin Sandys of Virginia. Finally,
after inadequate resources and. incompetent agents
had produced complete chaos in its affairs, the
Council resolved to divide the whole territory
among the individual patentees. The scheme,
which never went into effect, is shown on a most interesting map prepared by Sir William Alexander
in the year I623 and reissued as 'The Map and
Description of New England,' London, I630.
In the meantime an important event had happened. By some fateful chance, the Mayflower and
her precious cargo had touched the coast of Cape
Cod, and the- brave Pilgrim band had decided upon
Plymouth harbor for their settlement. They had
sailed from Southampton armed with a patent
which authorized them to settle within the northern limits of the Charter given to the London or
South Virginia Company; when they landed some
two hundred miles north of its boundary, this patent was worthless. In apparent ignorance of charter
rights and exclusive privileges, or of geographical
location, as well as of the disputes between the two
groups of adventurers in England, the voyagers
made their decision to stay where they found themselves, and in December, I62o, a permanent effort
at colonization in New England began.




IIo WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


The temptation is strong to dwell at length upon
the story of these people, called Nonconformists,
Brownists, Separatists, but best known as the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, and upon the books
which reveal their religious ideas. Their theological
creed was hard, unflinching Calvinism. No one can
foresee what might have developed if they had
found themselves, as their grant provided, under
the jurisdiction of the southern Virginian colony,
for their ideals of life and ideas of kingly prerogatives and of administrative laws differed widely
from those of the Jamestown people. The latter
have been called Cavaliers, because they tried to
reproduce the free and unreflecting manner of life
and the social standards of the Cavalier class of
Stuart England. The New Englanders were known
as " Roundheads" in contrast. They were made up
largely from the yeomanry class, and their standards
called for a life of seriousness and religious order.
The region to which the name of New England
is given was first described by John Brereton in
'A briefe and true Relation of the discoverie of the
north part of Virginia; being a most pleasant, fruitfull and commodious soile: Made this present yeere
I602 by Captaine Bartholomew Gosnold, Captaine
Bartholowmew Gilbert, and divers other gentlemen, by the permission of the honourable knight,
Sir Walter Raleigh.' This was the earliest expedition sent to the New England coast with the idea of
forming a permanent settlement. The landing was




THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH


I I I


on Cuttyhunk Island at the entrance to Buzzard's
Bay, and a monument now marks the site of Gosnold's fort, whose outlines, or what is believed to be
the outlines, could be traced until recent years. One
of Brereton's companions on this voyage was James
Rosier, who returned to this region three years later
with Captain George Weymouth and made a landfall on the coast of Maine. Rosier wrote the account of this "most prosperous voyage," which
was printed immediately upon his return to London. These two little pamphlets, by Brereton and
Rosier, which were long ago dubbed "The Verie
Two Eyes of New-England Historie," of the greatest historical importance and well-nigh priceless to
the book-collector, are rarely to be met with side
by side. They have been brought together here,
one from the Alfred T. White (previously S. Simon)
library and the other from Britwell Court.
The northern section of the original Virginia was
called New-England for the first time in print, in
the tract entitled 'A description of New-England,'
by Captain John Smith, printed in I616. Smith examined the coast from the Penobscot River to Cape
Cod, entering nearly all the bays and inlets and
preserving careful notes of his observations, with
the result that the map which should accompany
this tract is "the first thoroughly accurate map of
Massachusetts Bay." The Library has the book in
its original limp vellum, with the arms of William
Douglas on the sides, and the map in the sixth of




II 2  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the nine different states through which it passed.
Another copy of the map, in the Library's earliest
issue of Smith's 'Generall Historie,' is one of three
perfect copies recorded as in this country of the
first of these states -one of the others being in
New York and the other at San Gabriel, California.
Other accounts of this region as it was known
before the arrival of the Pilgrims may be found in
'A briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation
of New-England: and of sundry Accidents therein
occurring' from I607 to I622, London, I622, and
also in Sir Ferdinando Gorges's 'Briefe Narration
of the Originall Undertakings of the Advancement
of Plantations into the parts of America.' The
latter, written at this time, was not printed until
I659, when it was published at London by Gorges's
grandson under the title 'America painted to the
Life.' The volume contains four sections, of which
the best known is Edward Johnson's 'WonderWorking Providence of Sion's Saviour in New England,' originally issued at London in I654.
Our knowledge of the Plymouth Pilgrims comes
largely from the writings of William Bradford and
of Edward Winslow. The principal reservoir of
information is the famous and long-lost Bradford
Manuscript, which has been reproduced in facsimile. The recovery of this precious document supersedes to a large extent all the earlier writings, and
yet no one can neglect these other works entirely,
for the writer of each of them had access to other




THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH I I3
sources of information which serve to throw light
on one or another phase of the Pilgrim story. Not
the least interesting point about the books that
appeared before the manuscript was recovered is
the fact that: many of the writers, before the American Revolution, had access to it, and if the original
had never been found, considerable portions of it
would have been preserved in the quotations made
from it by these historians. This is especially true
of Nathaniel Morton's 'New-Englands Memorial,'
which was printed at Cambridge in I669, the first
historical publication issued from the colonial press.
Besides the original, there are several later editions
of Morton, of which the most desirable are those
of I772 and I826, both in the Library.
Edward Winslow, the most highly educated of
the Plymouth settlers, wrote three pamphlets containing much first-hand information. The most
important of these was entitled 'Hypocrisie Unmasked: By a true Relation of the Proceedings of
the Massachusetts against Samuel Gorton. Whereunto is added a briefe Narration of the true grounds
or cause of the first Planting of New-England.'
This appeared at London in I646 and was a reply
to a tract printed earlier the same year by Samuel Gorton, with the title, 'Simplicities Defence
against Seven-Headed Policy. Or The combate of
the United Colonies, not onely against some of the
Natives and Subjects, but against the Authority
also of the Kingdome of England'; of which the




I 4 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Library has the Huth copy. Gorton transferred the
scene of controversy from Rhode Island to London,
where to his discomfiture he found that Winslow
was more than his match in the use of language as
well as in political skill. After flaying his antagonist to a finish, Winslow tells the story of the
Pilgrim church at Leyden and the migration across
the Atlantic, giving many facts that are found nowhere else.
Winslow, probably collaborating with Bradford,
is supposed to have been the principal author of the
earliest printed account of the Pilgrim settlement.
This was 'A Relation or Journal of the beginnings
and proceedings of the English Plantation setled at
Plimouth.' It is known as 'Mourt's Relation' because the preface is signed George Mourt. Nobody
of this name can be found who was in any way
associated with the colony; but there was a George
Morton, and it is very likely that his name was misprinted. 'Mourt's Relation' carried the narrative
to December, i62i. It is continued to September,
I623, when Winslow left Plymouth for England,
in his 'Good Newes from New England... Shewing the wondrous providence and goodnes of God,
in their preservation and continuance, being delivered from many apparent deaths and dangers.'
This was printed early in I624.
To the student of history or of bibliography, as
well as to the librarian or the collector of English
blood, the works of greatest sentimental interest




THE PILGRIMS AND PLYMOUTH          I 15
among the books dealing with early American
events are Hariot's 'Virginia,' Smith's 'True Relation,' and Winslow's tracts. To the true American
patriot these original publications, in which the
English public read the very earliest news of the
land which was to become the seat of the great
trans-Atlantic nation, will always call for profound
veneration.




Chapter IX


THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY
AND ITS OFFSHOOTS
LITTLE book printed at London in i630 with
the title, 'The humble request of His Maiesties
loyall subjects, the Governor and the Company late
gone for New England, to the Rest of their Brethren, in and of the Church of England, For the obtaining of their Prayers, and the removall of suspitions, and mis-constructions of their Intentions,'
is spoken of with deep reverence by the numerous
descendants of those worthy first settlers of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was 'The Puritan's
Farewell to Old England,' and has been reprinted
and used at anniversary celebrations of Puritan admirers. The purpose of this tract was that Winthrop and those who went with him on the "Great
Emigration" of i630 should be viewed by the rest of
the world with correct understanding. Written with
great care in composition, it expresses in language
of the utmost humility the love for the Established
Church of those who were about to depart for New
England shores. They were particular to state that
they were not Separatists, even if their past actions
made them Nonconformists. With reverence proii6




MASSACHUSETTS BAY


II7


found and faith unshaken, they represented the less
extreme element of the Puritan family. This little
book, of such deep sentimental interest, is as important as it: is rare. It is a full reflection of the
feeling of the Nonconformist element in old England in relation to the Established Church.
Events of the early history of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony, in more or less detail, are to be found
principally in Governor John Winthrop's 'History
of New England.' Like Bradford's 'History,' this
remained in manuscript for many years. In I790
the first edition was published, and there was another in I825;. Still later, in 1853, the best edition
appeared, to which was added in i864 a well-written
biography of' Governor Winthrop by his descendant, Robert C. Winthrop.
The 'Chronicles of Massachusetts,' and a companion volume for Plymouth, contain a collection of
letters which passed between many of the members
of the Massachusetts Company, and the records of
the Company itself as far as they are extant. The
records of the colony down to i68o have also been
printed. Thomas Hutchinson's 'History of Massachusetts,' the first volume of which was published
at Boston in I764, is a compilation of facts drawn
from original documents, from the foundation of the
colony to the author's deposition as governor in
I77I. All the above, except the 'Humble Request,'
are compilations, reprints, or secondary accounts
of historical source materials, printed long after




IT8  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the events which they record. Of early or contemporary publications, there exists but little which
bears directly on the colonization of Massachusetts
Bay.
Probably the earliest tract printed on its behalf
is John White's ' The Planters Plea,' London, I630.
It was published anonymously, and the authorship
is sometimes ascribed to Winthrop. It is an argument for colonization by people of godly ways of
living, industrious, and not the kind who went to
Virginia. It does not argue directly for Puritan
principles, but rather for the foundation of a "bulwark against the kingdome of Antichrist." Another
valuable source of information is William Wood's
'New England's Prospect,' London, I639, a lively
contemporary and not pro-Winthrop account of
Massachusetts.
Of somewhat later date is Captain Edward Johnson's 'The Wonder-working Providence of Sion's
Saviour in New England,' London, i654, with a
second title 'The History of New England.' This
book was reissued with Gorges's 'America painted
to the Life,' of which mention has been made. Copies of all the above are in the Library, as is Rev.
Francis Higginson's 'New Englands Plantation,'
London, I630. He came to New England to attend
to the spiritual needs of the earliest colonists, wrote
this book abounding with interesting facts and observations, and died within the year after his arrival.




MASSACHUSETTS BAY


II9


The books mentioned above and the decidedly
meagre source accounts available, however, leave
few important happenings in dispute. The great
and primary authority, Winthrop, has never been
accused of misstatement of facts as he understood
them, and seldom did even his religious enthusiasm
carry him away from a fair presentation of a religious controversy, even in such a case as his differences with Roger Williams.
In an incredibly short time after the first two or
three years of their foundation both Plymouth and
Massachusetts became securely organized communities. The establishment of outlying colonies or
settlements followed immediately. There were several of these offshoots, caused by political or religious differences. How could anyone expect that
in the asylum of New England all divergencies of
opinion would disappear? It was more probable
that the sudden release from the fetters of Old
England would excite greater differences. And so
it came to pass. Among the first of such differences
from which followed an event of importance, was
the dispute with Roger Williams.
The creed of Massachusetts and of Plymouth was
narrow and dogmatic, and little was needed outside
the strict rules of the Puritan to start a dispute. In
the spring of 1631, Williams, after his training at
Oxford and with a mind full of opinions which led
him to follow in the wake of the Nonconformists,
landed in Massachusetts. He was a Welshman and




120 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
from the beginning of his career a controversialist,
but the sweetness of his nature always kept him
free from pronounced bitterness. He frequently
wrote for dialectical effect rather than for any definite object. From the six volumes of his collected
writings and letters, published by the Narragansett
Club, may be gleaned many details of early New
England life. His serious religious dissertations
expound his doctrines and demonstrate his moral
righteousness, but we turn from these with relief
to his sprightly, graceful letters, which reveal to us
of to-day that lovable character which we always
associate with him.
Constituted as he was, Williams could not live
long anywhere without disputation. And so, after
only six months' residence in Massachusetts, the
disturbances began. It would be interesting, even
now, to recite in detail the controversy, but the
story has often been told. Williams stated emphatically that a state church was an abomination. He
declined to join the church at Boston, unless the
members repented of ever having had communion
with the Church of England; and when, after his
expulsion from Salem, he was allowed to return
there, he reasserted his doctrines of the complete
separation of Church and State.
Such teachings were sufficient to arouse any government to drastic action, but those in authority at
Boston were more than patient. The controversy
continued until the fall of i635, when Williams was




MASSACHUSETTS BAY


121


sentenced to leave the colony. He broke one of the
rules of conduct imposed on him, however, and the
Court ordered him sent to England. He escaped,
made his waiy to Narragansett Bay, and the history
of Rhode Island begins.
Winthrop's 'History' is the authority for much
that pertains to the foundation of Rhode Island.
Thomas Welde published his book, 'A short story
of the rise, reign, and ruin of the Antinomians of
New England,' at London in I644; one of the earliest and most partisan on this dispute. Much of the
source material, however, comes down to us in manuscript; but most of this has been printed in later
years in the Proceedings or Transactions of the New
England historical societies.
Several years after Williams's departure from
Massachusetts, John Cotton, the greatest Puritan
debater in New England, in a printed 'Letter,' defended the action of the Court in banishing Williams. Three large books were the result. Williams
first wrote in reply to Cotton's letter, 'The Bloudy
Tenent of Persecution, for cause of Conscience,'
London, I644, which Cotton answered three years
later in his 'Bloudy Tenent, washed... How farre
Liberty of Conscience ought to be given to those
that truly feare God? And how farre restrained to
turbulent and pestilent persons, that not onely raze
the foundation of Godlinesse, but disturb the Civill
Peace where they live,' London, I647. Williams
replied to this in turn in his 'Bloody Tenent yet




122  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
More Bloody,' London, 1652. In all this controversy, it is easy to see that much of its intense
bitterness was due to the fact that Williams persisted in carrying the matter to London, where the
question of the right of Parliament to control or
direct the New England colonists inevitably became
involved in its solution.
Cotton's argument was, briefly, that right may be
maintained by force, but that the followers of other
religions may not use force because they are wrong.
With such a theory all the questionable doings of
the Puritans were not violations of conscience.
Cotton was smothered by Williams's unanswerable
replies. The banishment of Williams from Massachusetts did not end the troubles. From the controversial books by Cotton and Williams mentioned
above, it is a pleasure to turn to another work in the
Library, which was Williams's first book: 'A key
into the language of America: Together with briefe
Observations of the Customs, Manners and Worships, &c., of the aforesaid Natives in Peace and
Warre, in Life and Death,' London, I643. It is
pleasant also to remember that, although Williams
was temperamentally unable to get along with his
fellow Englishmen, he continued until his death on
the best of terms with the natives.
Of contemporary printed source material for the
early history of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and
Maine, there is a great dearth. For Connecticut,
from the Massachusetts side, Winthrop is the prin



MASSACHUSETTS BAY


I23


cipal authority. Much material remained in manuscript until the Records of Connecticut were compiled by J. Hammond Trumbull. The first volume
appeared in:185o and the twelfth in I882. Earlier,
Benjamin Trumbull's 'History of Connecticut,'
issued in I8I8, was the best compilation. Increase
Mather published in 1677 a'Relation of the troubles
which have hapned in New-England, By reason of
the Indians there,'which incorporated Captain John
Mason's 'History of the Pequot War.' The publication by the Massachusetts Historical Society of
the long-slumbering manuscripts of Lyon Gardiner,
commander at Saybrook and a participant in the
Pequot War, added much light to the history of the
time. Captain John Underhill and Philip Vincent
also wrote narratives which exist as contemporary
printed pamphlets, and these supplement Mason's
account.
Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport are generally credited with the founding of the New Haven
Colony. Little is known of either man. We have
the sermons of Davenport, but there is no history
concealed within his ecclesiastical thoughts. Eaton
was a man of large means, and all we know of him
comes from Winthrop. The settlers, by general
agreement, accepted the rule of Scripture for a religious system and civil code.
For the early history of the territory north of
Massachusetts, which later developed into New
Hampshire and Maine, we must go again to Win



124  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
throp for the Massachusetts side until 1648, and to
the volumes of records. Jeremy Belknap's 'History of New Hampshire,' Boston, 1792, and the
later edition published at Dover in 1812, are to be
relied upon for that colony. The narrative is based
upon the manuscript records of the various New
Hampshire townships. This Library contains also
John Farmer's 'Collections, topographical, historical and biographical, relating principally to New
Hampshire,' Concord, 1822-24, as well as the Provincial and State Papers.
Early printed source materials for the history of
Maine are likewise largely wanting, with the exception of the writings of Gorges already mentioned.
The records have been compiled by Hazard, and by
the Massachusetts and Maine Historical Societies
in their Collections and Transactions.
In 1646, because of the exclusion of many from
civil rights, and other grievances, the independent
church members of New England petitioned the
General Court for removal of their civil disabilities.
They also demanded that they, as well as members
of the Church of England, and the Presbyterians of
Scotland, should be admitted to communion with
the New England churches, and if not granted this,
that they should be released from civil burdens.
These affairs brought about the publication of two
important controversial tracts. The first was written by Major John Childe, a man of learning and
a traveller, then resident in New England. In pro



MASSACHUSETTS BAY


125


test against the existing order of things, he published 'New Englands Jonas cast up at London:
or A relation of the proceedings of the Court at
Boston in New England against divers honest and
godly persons, for petitioning for government in the
commonwealth, according to the lawes of England,'
London, I647, which brought out the reply of Edward Winslow, in his 'New England's Salamander
discovered.' 'New Englands Jonas' includes the
earliest contemporary reprint of 'The Freeman's
Oath,' the first issue of the Cambridge Press. A
manuscript copy of the Oath made by Winthrop is
preserved, but the first printing by Stephen Daye
cannot be found, although Charles Evans found a
tantalizing entry in the British Museum catalogue
which may mean that a copy was once in that vast
repository.
Winthrop died in I649 and the accurate chronicling of events, which is due to him, ceases from
that quarter. To offset this great loss to the careful
investigator, we have the ever-increasing productions of the New England printing press, together
with a larger number of narratives with English imprints. In I639 -exactly one hundred years after
Mexico established her press - the first printing
press in English America was set up at Cambridge,
when Stephen Daye began the printing of books
and tracts. To the collector of American imprints,
the first products,'The Freeman's Oath' and 'The
Bay Psalm 'Book,' are great prizes, and they are




126  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
important, too, historically. No copy of the former
is known to exist, and only ten copies of the latter
are in public and private libraries. For several
years thereafter, the press did little except print
an annual Almanack, an occasional law, Thanksgiving or Fast Day Proclamations, and the Harvard
Commencement programmes, but nevertheless the
career of the printer was started. After i660 the
output began to be more important, and a certain
amount of historical material came from the presses
of New England.
Almost immediately after losing the guidance of
Winthrop, we enter upon a period of intense controversial religious feeling. Possibly the succeeding
governor of Massachusetts, John Endicott, was
largely responsible for much that occurred in the
following years, for the Puritan in all his bigotry
and cruel intolerance was reflected in the actions of
this new governor. Parallel with the intense persecution of theQuakers, the books pertaining to which
will be mentioned later, came a most persistent effort, supported by the Puritan clergy of New England, for the redemption of the Indian. It is strange
to see strenuous efforts for conversion and strenuous persecution working simultaneously.




Chapter X
NEW ENGLAND RELIGIOUS MATTERS
IT has been stated that the banishment of Roger
Williams did not settle all the troubles in New
England. Thomas Welde and Edward Winslow
published an account of the difficulties with the
'Antinomians, Familists and Libertines that infected the churches of New England,' already referred to. This book appeared with differing titles
and reprinted text, in several editions, two of which
are in this Library. Robert Baylie, a friend of
Roger Williams who contested with him the views
of those in authority, states concisely the position
taken by the so-called Nonconformists and Independents and their relations to the Puritan Church,
in 'A dissuasive from the errours of the time,' London, I645.
The troubles of the Puritan Church with other
Nonconformists, however, did not compare with
the annoyances caused them by the Quakers. Possibly the earliest account of Quaker and Baptist
persecution is to be found in John Clark's 'Ill
newes from New-England: or a narative of NewEnglands persecution wherein is declared that
while old England is becoming New, New-England
127




128  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
is become Old,' London, I652. There is nowhere a
more concise account of the position of the Puritan
Church at that time, relative to these two sects,
than is given in John Norton's 'A discussion of
that great point in Divinity, the sufferings of
Christ,' London, I653. This book was written at
the request of the General Court of the Massachusetts Colony in answer to William Pynchon's
'Meritorious Price of our Redemption.' A clear
exposition of the Puritan view of the Quaker invasion is given in the rare tract by Thomas Welde,
'An answer to W. R. His narration of the opinions
and practices of the Churches lately erected in New
England. Vindicating those Godly and Orthodoxall Churches, from more than an hundred imputations,' London, I644. Rev. William Rathband
published a severe criticism on the church ways in
New England; but from the fact that he had never
lived in the colony and had personal experience
there, Welde had much the better of his antagonist.
These tracts reflect the civil and religious conditions of New England about the middle of the
seventeenth century, and should be considered
with Gorton's 'Simplicities Defence' and Winslow's 'Hypocrisie unmasked,' already referred to.
Isaac Backus's 'A History of New England with
particular reference to the denomination of Christians called Baptists,' Boston, I777-96, embodies
some important source materials covering these
earlier times.




RELIGIOUS MATTERS            129
With the facile pens of George Fox, his wife Margaret Fell, Francis Howgill, Edmund Burroughs,
and others, champions of the Quakers, all of them
writing tract after tract, it was not long before the
cases of Quaker persecution by the Puritans were
thoroughly heralded. In I659 George Fox published 'The secret workes of a cruel people made
manifest; Whose little finger is become heavier than
their persecutors the Bishops loyns, who have set up
an Image amongst them in New-England, which all
that will not bow down unto, and worship, must
undergo all such Sufferings as can be invented.'
The zealous Howgill, author of some fifty books,
tracts, and broadsides, gave an account of the reception which the Quakers met with at Boston in
'The Popish inquisition newly erected in NewEngland, whereby their church is manifested to
be a daughter of Mysterie Babylon which did drink
the blood of the Saints. Also, Their Rulers to be in
the Beasts power upon whom the Whore rideth,
manifest by their wicked compulsary Laws against
the Lamb and his Followers,' London, I659. This
book discusses from the Quaker standpoint the law
passed at New Plymouth against the Quakers and
also that passed at the General Court held in Boston the preceding year, I658. Humphrey Norton's
'New-England's Ensigne: It being The Account
of Cruelty, the Professors Pride, and the Articles of
their Faith,' London, I659, must not be confused
with the quite different tract of the Puritan, John




130 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Norton, whose championship of the other side is
expressed in his work, 'The Heart of New-England
rent at the blasphemies of the present generation,'
London, i660. Here we learn that as early as 1654
the first law was passed by the Massachusetts Colony against the doctrines of the Quakers, and certain Quaker books were ordered burned by the public
executioner. Shortly after this the Quakers arrived
and were summarily banished, but their religious
enthusiasm was still keen, and even as they continued to arrive, more strict laws were passed.
Imprisonment and whippings were frequent. At
last, in the winter of 1559-60, two martyrs for the
Quaker cause, William Robinson and Marmaduke
Stephenson, were hanged, while their associate,
Mrs. Mary Dyer, was reprieved with the halter
around her neck. These matters are related in
detail in 'A call from death to life,' prepared by
Stephenson before his execution, and printed at
London in i660. Edmund Burroughs gives further
details in his book, 'A declaration of the sad and
great persecution and martyrdom of the people of
God called Quakers,' London, i 660. This was also
a reply to a defence of the action of the Puritan
courts of New England in regard to all these persecutions and hangings, which was made in 'The
humble petition and address of the General Court
sitting at Boston in New England unto the High
and Mighty Prince Charles II,' London, i660.
Another reply to the 'Petition' is in a work of




RELIGIOUS MATTERS


I3I


great historical importance in connection with the
Quaker persecutions, George Bishop's 'New England judged, not by Man's but the spirit of the
Lord: and the summe sealed up of New-Englands
persecutions,' 1661. This was reprinted at London
in I703. The Library contains many Quaker tracts
on the history of this time, numbering some three
hundred and fifty. They reflect conditions in New
England from the Quaker standpoint, and many of
them are also of importance for a consideration of
the evolution of the settlement of Pennsylvania.
In great favor with his brother-in-law, Oliver
Cromwell, William Hooke voices in his literary
production the relations between Puritan New
England and the Commonwealth. After living at
Taunton, at Manchester, and at New Haven with
Davenport for twenty years, in I656 he returned to
England to be domestic chaplain to Cromwell. His
'Nevv Englands teares, for old Englands feares,'
London, I64.I, has some literary merit, and his
later sermons attest the earlier harmony of thought.
This book passed through three issues the same
year, two of these being in the Library.
'The Pulpit Incendiary,' London, 1648, is the
title of an important book, which describes conditions in England affecting New England. The
Library's copy came from the private collection of
the late George Emery Littlefield, long the leading
Boston bookseller and student of its early annals,
and in it he wrote the following comment: "A very




132 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
valuable and very rare contemporary Congregational tract, published just before the establishment
of the Commonwealth,... which drove John Cotton, John Norton, Richard Mather, and Thomas
Shepard to New England. This is the only copy I
have ever seen. I have never seen it offered for
sale in England or America."
Presbyterianism - another Puritan trouble
is the subject of an equally rare tract, written by
Thomas Parker, pastor for ia time in the church at
Newbury, under the title: 'The trve copy of a letter... touching the government practised in the
churches of New England,' London, I644. This is
the Bishop White Kennet copy.
John White, known to his fellow-controversialists in England as "Century White," was the author of 'The first century of scandalous, malignant
priests,' London, I643. This volume is of especial
importance to the bibliographer and collector interested in Washington. A learned bibliographer has
written that it "must take rank as the corner stone
of a library of Washingtoniana."
A typical Puritan and a man who wrote one book
which has some historical interest for us to-day was
Peter Bulkeley. He came from persecuting England to Cambridge in 1635, and soon thereafter with
a party of followers went into the wilderness and
founded Concord. His one book in which we are
interested is 'The Gospel-Covenant; or, The covenant of grace opened,' of which a second edition




RELIGIOUS MAITERS


I33


was printed at London in I65I. This gives a lucid
New England opinion of the great happenings then
going on in the mother country.
The three greatest New England preachers of
their day were unquestionably Thomas Hooker,
John Cotton, and Thomas Shepard. Hooker came
to New England in I633, and three years later he
and his flock went westward into the wilderness and
founded Hartford. His writings, mainly on theological subjects, number something over twenty
and are represented in the Library.
In I635 Thomas Shepard placed the broad Atlantic between his persecutors and himself. He
landed in Boston and took charge of a church in
Cambridge the following year, where he remained
until he died in I649. A great preacher and theological writer, holding views which were moderate
for his time, he permanently influenced New England thought. He did much toward furthering the
futile effort of Indian conversion, and we know him
best by his contributions to the Eliot Tracts, to be
mentioned in the next chapter. His other work
which is most commonly met with is 'The sound
believer. A treatise of evangelical conversion,'
London, I659.
The names of John Cotton and of the several
members of the Mather family are associated with
the ecclesiastical, political and literary events of the
period from about the middle of the seventeenth
century through the first quarter of the eighteenth.




134 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
The "Patriarch of New England," John Cotton,
after a tempestuous career in England, came to
Boston in I633. He became "teacher" of the First
Church of Boston, of which John Wilson was pastor.
There he remained until 1652, the year of his death.
More a preacher than a literary writer or historian,
he was nevertheless the most influential man in
New England in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. This
influence was generally beneficial, but he was never
an advocate of religious freedom or of democracy.
Some of his productions have been mentioned in
connection with the Roger Williams controversy.
In the Library, and invaluable as an exposition of
New England Congregationalism, is 'The way of
the churches of Christ in New England, examined
by the Golden Reed of the Sanctuary,' London,
I645. His 'Milk for Babes' was an ever-present
book in the Puritan household for the instruction
of children. The Library has no less than sixteen
of the voluminous writings of Cotton. Tyler says,
"Evidently the vast intellectual and moral tone of
John Cotton was a thing that could not be handed
over to the printing press: it had to communicate
itself in the living presence of the man himself."
Richard Mather, a member of a notable English
family, came to New England after being suspended
from the Church of England for nonconformity.
He was a friend of John Cotton, who preceded him,
and of Thomas Hooker, and soon after landing in
Boston he was made "teacher" in the Church of




RELIGIOUS MATTERS


I35


Dorchester. There he remained until his death in
I669. Cotton Mather's 'Magnalia' relates much of
interest about his grandfather. "His voice," we are
there told, "was loud and big; and procured unto
his ministry an awful and very taking majesty."
More important, however, was the fact that this
man was "the progenitor of all the Mathers in
New England," and the first of a long line. Careful investigations have shown that no less than
eighty clergymen descended from him, twenty-nine
of whom bore the name of Mather.
New England Congregationalism was described
and defended in Richard Mather's 'Church-government and Church-covenant discussed In an Answer
to two and thirty Questions sent over by divers
Ministers in England,' London, I643. With the
same intent he wrote 'A modest & brotherly answer to Mr. Charles Herle his Book against the Independency of Churches,' London, I644. Mather
took part with Welde and Eliot in the writing of
the 'Bay Psalm Book.' But the most important of
all his works, in its influence, was the draft of the
famous Cambridge Platform, almost entirely from
his pen. His life was written by his son, Increase,
under the title: 'The life and death of that Reverend man of God, Mr. Richard Mather,' Cambridge,
I670.
The first New-England-born Mather was given
the name of Increase "because of the never-to-beforgotten increase of every sort wherewith God fa



I36 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
vored the country about the time of his nativity."
He graduated from Harvard in I65o and at once entered into the work of the ministry by preaching
in the North Church of Boston. With the 'Cambridge Platform' of i646, drafted by his father (a
copy of the second New England edition of I68o is
in the Library), and the 'Confession' of I68o, for
which he was responsible, he was a first authority on
doctrine and government for the churches of Massachusetts. Later he became a leader in the opposition to Sir Edmund Andros, Edward Randolph, and
Governor Joseph Dudley, and was sent to England
in the Colony's interest. All this led to the publication of 'A collection of papers relating to the present juncture of affairs in England,' I688; 'A sixth
collection of papers,' London, I689; and 'A brief
relation of the state of New England,' London,
I689. In I676, he published 'A brief history of the
vvar with the Indians in New-England. From
June 24, I675,' London, I676  one of the King
Philip's War narratives.
His religious writings are voluminous and there is
space to mention only a few: 'A course of sermons
on early piety,' Boston, 1721; 'Elijah's mantle. A
faithful testimony, to the cause and work of God, in
the churches of New England,' Boston, I722; 'A
discourse concerning the subject of baptisme,'
Cambridge, I675; 'Cases of Conscience concerning
evil spirits Personating Men, Witchcrafts,' Boston,
i693. The latter, like several other of his writings,




RELIGIOUS MATTERS


I37


shows that he believed only less thoroughly than his
son in witchcraft. The first authority on the life
of Increase Mather is the work of his son, Cotton
Mather: 'Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in
the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr.
Increase Mather. Who expired August 23, I723,'
Boston, I724..
There is an old epitaph which says:
Under this stone lies Richard Mather,
Who had a son greater than his father,
And eke a grandson greater than either.
The most prolific of the Mathers in literary output,
and by far the most widely known, was the eldest
son of Increase, who married a daughter of John
Cotton, and christened his first-born, Cotton. Unquestionably this man, even recognizing fully his
many faults, was the greatest that New England
produced in the last quarter of the seventeenth
century. He regarded himself, and many agreed
with him, as a supernatural genius, and indeed,
there was much to justify this feeling, considering
the time and the local setting. Endowed with a
wonderful memory and an inordinate appetite for
knowledge, he early began his career as a preacher
and writer. His four hundred or more published
works comprise sermons, tracts and letters. The
most notable: as well as most voluminous of these is
his 'Magnalia Christi americana: or, The ecclesiastical history of New England,' London, I702.




138   WILLIAM    L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
It is an enormous book, concerning itself mainly
with the settlement and religious history of New
England. Often inaccurate, it abounds in conceits
and odd features; yet, withal, it contains matter to
be found nowhere else, for Cotton Mather had access to records and letters not now in existence. As
an auxiliary to other source materials, it is invaluable. Ordinarily, the book is not a rarity, but the
Library's copy is, for the bibliophile, one whose
equal is very seldom met with. It is a genuine large
paper copy, measuring I4~   X 9 inches, perfect in
every particular. Moreover, it contains the original
two leaves of errata, printed in America, of which
but few other copies are recorded. There are, in addition, many of the religious writings of Cotton
Mather in the Library, some of the most important
ones being:
Bonifacius. An essay upon the good, that is to be advised
and designed, by those who desire to answer the great
end of life. Boston, I7I0.
Eleutheria: or, An idea of the Reformation in England.
London, I698.
The good old way. Or, Christianity described. Boston,
I706.
India Christiana.  Boston, 1721.
Late memorable providences relating to witchcrafts.
London, I69I.
These and the many other similar publications on
the Library's shelves are sufficient to present fully a
comprehensive view of Congregationalism in New
England.




RELIGIOUS MATTERS           I39
The manuscripts of Mather which still exist, his
Diary in particular, have been made available
through printing by the Massachusetts Historical
Society and they have added much of value for
the consideration of the historical student. The
Library contains one manuscript from his hand,
consisting of passages from the Greek Testament
translated into English, a living illustration of the
industry of the man.
We pardon many of the erring opinions of the
Mathers, but the part they took in the witchcraft
delusion did much to lessen their influence, upon the
reaction which took place shortly. The writing of a
book by Robert Calef, a merchant of Boston, under
the title, 'More wonders of the invisible world,'
London, I700, which was reprinted at Salem, I796,
was a monument of moral courage and did much
to correct the errors into which the Mathers had
guided public opinion.
The last of the Mathers who calls for consideration in connection with New England history, was
Samuel, the son of Cotton. He was a brother-inlaw of Thomas Hutchinson, and an ardent speaker
and writer in behalf of the cause of the colonists, for
whom he performed a beneficial service.
The great preachers, theological and semi-historical writers,who followed those whose works we have
mentioned are numerous during the early eighteenth-century period. The population in all the
colonies greatly increased, and the capacity of the




140 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
printing presses in America and England was ever
becoming greater. The Library contains numerous
tracts, more or less representative, written by Samuel Sewall, the first abolitionist, John Wise, the
brilliant prose writer, and Jeremiah Dummer, who
according to President Stiles had the "greatest
strength of genius in New England." Of Jonathan
Edwards much might be written, but his published
works are easily available in unnumbered editions.
Mather Byles, afterward an incorrigible Tory,
never preached politics in the pulpit and never
talked about anything else out of it. For forty-one
years he served his people in one church, and his
writings show him to be a wit, a theologian, and a
pulpit orator.




Chapter XI
NATIVE NEW ENGLANDERS
pORMAL action for legalizing the conversion of
the Indians was taken through the efforts of
Edward Winslow, in 'An act for the promoting and
propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New
England,' passed by Parliament July 27, and forthwith printed, London, I649. Previous to this time,
however, considerable efforts had been made in this
direction, and as early as 1643 there appeared the
first of the so-called 'Eliot Indian Tracts.' John
Eliot, known as the "Apostle to the Indians," was
the instigator of a regular succession of tracts, the
purpose of which in nearly all instances was the
furtherance of his evangelical work among the Indians. Entwined with some inevitable theological
speculation there is much in these tracts that is important for understanding Indian history. Eleven
in number and varying in character, they were
issued in small quarto form in London, all except
the earliest being sent out by or on behalf of the
Corporation. The titles are particularly interesting, even for that age of picturesque language, and
they prove that many of the ideas exploited by the
modern professional advertisers are far from being
new discoveries.
141




142   WILLIAM     L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
The full set of the 'Eliot Tracts' consists of:
i. New England's First Fruits; in respect, First of the
Conversion, of some, Conviction of divers, Preparation of
sundry, of the Indians. 2. Of the progresse of Learning, in
the Colledge at Cambridge. I643.
2. The Day Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospell
with the Indians in New England. 1647.
3. The Clear Sun-shine of the Gospel breaking forth upon
the Indians. By Thomas Shepard. 1648.
4. The Glorious Progress of the Gospel, amongst the Indians in New England. Manifested by three Letters under
the Hand of that famous instrument of the Lord, Mr. John
Eliot. Published by Edward Winslow. 1649.
5. The Light appearing more and more towards the perfect Day. Or, A farther Discouery of the present state of the
Indians. Published by Henry Whitfield. I65I.
6. Strength out of Weaknesse; or a Glorious Manifestation Of the further Progresse of the Gospel. 1652.
7. Tears of Repentance; Or, a further Narrative of the
Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians. Related by Mr.
Eliot and Mr. Mayhew. I653.
8. A Late and Further Manifestation of the Progress of
the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England. Declaring
their constant Love and Zeal to the Truth. I655.
9. A further Accompt of the Progresse of the Gospel
amongst the Indians. Set forth in certaine Letters sent from
thence declaring a purpose of Printing the Scriptures in the
Indian Tongue. I659.
Io. A further Account of the progress of the Gospel
Amongst the Indians. Being a relation of the confessions
made by several Indians. I660.
1. A Brief Narrative of the Progress of the Gospel
amongst the Indians, in the Year I670. Given in By the
Reverend Mr. John Elliot. I67I.




NATIVE NEW ENGLANDERS


143


All are in this Library excepting numbers 2 and 9.
Several of the copies are from the library of Bishop
White Kennett; others from that of Henry Huth.
A fitting culmination to the life of John Eliot was
his translation of the New Testament, which first
appeared in I66I, and was followed by the translation of the C)ld Testament in i663. The Library's
copy is a fine, complete example of the second edition, dated 1685. This monumental work of Eliot
not only shows the wonderful industry of the man
himself, but is also a demonstration of what could
be accomplished with the simple printing outfit
which had passed into the hands of Samuel Green,
in conjunction with the services of Marmaduke
Johnson, a practical printer sent over from London
for this purpose, and possibly two Indian boys.
Prior to the first appearance of the Testament, the
products of this press had been, except for the almanacs, simple tracts or broadsides involving no
complicated operations such as were bound to arise
in connection with so large a work as the publication of the whole Bible. To-day the copies of this
Indian Bible: are museum curios; only the associated history is important.
The history of King Philip's War, beginning with
the murder of the first English colonist by the Indians in June, I675, and continuing to the death of
Philip in August a year later, is told in the so-called
'King Philip's War Narratives.' Folio pamphlets,
published in the form of official bulletins, they give




I44 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
an account of the progress of the war. They number five, are of considerable historical importance,
and are all in the Library:
I. The Present State of New-England, With Respect to
the Indian War. London, 1676.
2. A Continuation of the State of New-England; Being a
Farther Account of the Indian Warr. London, I676.
3. A New and Further Narrative of the State of NewEngland, being a Continued Account of the Bloudy IndianWar, from March till August, I676. London, i676.
4. A True Account of the Most Considerable Occurrences
That have hapned in the Warre between the English and the
Indians in New-England. London, 1676.
5. The warr in New-England visibly ended. London, I 677.
Besides these folio narratives there were a number
of other unofficial tracts containing reports of the
progress of the War, which were printed in quarto
form.
William Hubbard's 'The Present State of New
England. Being a narrative of the troubles with
the Indians,' London, I677, is both well written
and authoritative. It is quite in contrast with his
'General History' of New England, a compilation
from Morton's 'New Englands Memorial.' The
latter work long remained in manuscript until it
was published in I8I5 by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Among the numerous historical narratives of the
early eighteenth century, we find another old chronicler of Indian troubles, Samuel Penhallow, who
told his story in 'The history of the wars of New



NATIVE NEW ENGL,ANDERS          I45
England with the Eastern Indians or, A Narrative
of their continual Perfidy and Cruelty, from I703,'
Boston, I726. The Henry W. Poor-Herschel V.
Jones copy of this book, in its original calf binding,
is in the Library.
As a writer on the flora and fauna of New England, with dissertations upon the remedies used by
the Indians, John Josselyn wins a place of honor in
any American collection. His two works are: 'New
Englands Rarities Discovered,' London, I672, and
'An account of two voyages to New-England,'
London, I674.,
Sir Edmund Andros was the New England stormcentre toward the end of the seventeenth century.
His presence, as the loyal and comparatively efficient representative of the British crown, provides
a welcome relief from religious controversies. These
were never entirely disposed of until liberty of conscience was proclaimed as well as freedom of the
press, but civil matters became steadily more and
more prominent with each passing decade. Andros's
first appearance as governor of New York started
trouble, and tract-writing. Later, upon the accession of James II, when he became governor of the
consolidated northern colonies to form the dominion of New England, including all the English settlements, except Pennsylvania, between Maryland
and Canada, the protests of the colonists were loud
and almost unanimous. Further, with the King behind him, Anclros proclaimed liberty of conscience,




146 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
which was a direct blow at the Puritan power. The
Governor was very unpopular, as may be surmised.
By royal authority he revoked the charter of Massachusetts. He then proceeded to demand the surrender of the Connecticut charter from the Council
of that colony, thereby precipitating the "Charter
Oak" episode, so familiar to all. The culmination
of the trouble was the arrest of Andros, together
with his subordinates, all of whom were sent to
England for trial as soon as King William was securely established on the throne. All this is concisely told in Nathaniel Byfield's 'An account
of the late revolution in New-England. Together
with the Declaration of the gentlemen, merchants,
and inhabitants of Boston and the country adjacent,' London, 1689. Throughout the period of disturbance, there was an uninterrupted succession of
pamphlets, proclamations, and lesser ephemeral
writings, which have now become exceedingly rare,
a high percentage being known only from single
copies preserved in the archives at Boston or London. These were brought together and reprinted in
the 'Andros Tracts' series issued by the Prince
Society in i 890.
New England was safe for the time being, with
its old form of government restored, with Simon
Bradstreet at its head. The year 1689 begins a new
period in Colonial history, which extends onward
to 1763, the year of the Treaty of Peace signed at
Paris. Thenceforward, France ceases to be a factor




NATIVE NEW ENGLANDERS           147
in American affairs, the zenith of British Colonial
domination has been reached for the time being,
and we drift into controversies of several different
natures, - some of them unsettled even to-day,and all of which led into the period of the American
Revolution.
The shining light among the verse-writers of colonial times was Michael Wigglesworth. His poetry
so perfectly uttered the faith and feelings of the
Puritans that for many years its popularity almost
equalled that of the Bible itself. He was a voluminous writer, and the number of his lines is exceeded
only by Ann Bradstreet's verses. His masterpiece
- and New England church history could hardly
be examined without mentioning it-was 'The Day
of Doom: or, A description of the great and last
judgment, with a short Discourse about Eternity.'
Tyler discusses this work exhaustively and most interestingly. Like the early primers, its popularity
was great and its use general. No copy of the first
American edition is known. The Library has a copy
of the earliest edition with the English imprint,
dated I673, from the Huth library, as well as the
sixth Boston edition of I715, and also the seventh
Boston edition of I75I. Even as late as I867 this
book was reprinted. Besides the 'Day of Doom,'
Wigglesworth is known by his 'Meat out of the
Eater: or, Meditations concerning the necessity,
end, and usefulness of afflictions unto God's children,' of which the fifth edition was printed at
Boston in I717.




148 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Equally entertaining and important is the work
of the first professional poet of New England, Ann
Bradstreet, the wife of Governor Simon Bradstreet.
Her book has one of those long title-pages, making
it a table of contents, which we will abbreviate:
'The tenth Muse lately sprung up in America. Or,
Severall Poems, compiled with great variety of VVit
and Learning, full of delight,' London, I65o. But
few copies of this book are known and the one in
the Library is in its contemporary binding.
Four editions published in one year showed the
interest the Puritan party in England took in 'The
Simple Cobler of Aggavvam in America Willing to
help mend his Native Country, lamentably tattered, both in the upper-Leather and Sole, with all
the honest stitches he can take. And as willing
never to bee paid for his work, by Old English
wonted pay,' written by Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and printed at London in
I647. It is a satire upon the licence of new opinions
of his time, and Tyler places a high literary value
upon the production.
A poetical volume, particularly interesting to the
collector of early American literature, and apparently overlooked by Tyler, for he does not mention
it, is Robert Hayman's 'Qvodlibets, lately come
over from New Britaniola, old Newfovnd-land.
Epigrams and other small parcels, both morall and
diuine,' London, I628. This is probably the first
book of English poetry written in America. It is




NATIVE NEW ENGLANDERS           149
described in the Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica and in
W. Carew Hazlitt's 'Notes on Early English Literature.' The book is of very great rarity and the
Library's is the Skegg-Utterson-Huth copy.
Thomas Prince was born in Massachusetts and
from 1718 to 1758 was pastor of the South Church
at Boston. His theological writings are numerous,
but our particular interest in him is for the reason
that he produced the first genuinely meritorious historical work published in America up to that time,
namely, his 'Chronological History of New-England
in the form of annals... from the discovery by
Capt. Gosnold in I602, to the arrival of Governor
Belcher, in I730,' Boston, I736. Volume I is a monument of annalistic lore, compiled with accuracy,
considering when it was done. The beautiful Menzies copy is in the Library. This volume was entirely filled by the 'Introduction, Containing a
brief Epitome of the most remarkable Transactions
and Events abroad, from the Creation.' As this
volume stopped at the precise year with which the
interest of its purchasers began, the publication
was not well received by its subscribers. It was not
until twenty years later, in I755, that ninety-six
pages of the second volume appeared, with the title:
'Annals of New England.' This continued the narration to I633, but there the work came to an abrupt end. To Prince we are greatly indebted for all
that remains of his library. As a boy at college he
began to gather books and documents pertaining to




Iso  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
America, and that spirit remained with him to the
end. The Boston Public Library is now custodian
of what remains of his library, after thieves, British
troops, and vandals had done their work of scattering a large portion of it.
It is difficult indeed, in reviewing a very large
number of bibliographically important books with
a view to determining their fundamental or source
values, to decide how far the writer of a pretentious
volume may safely be credited with being the author of a new movement, idea, or account. Certain
it is that one writer, Jonathan Mayhew, like nearly
all the preachers of his day, launched into matters of importance, civil, ecclesiastical, and military.
Practically all his writings contain accounts of
events now of interest to us, or they are prophetic
warnings of what is to occur. As Tyler says, "In
Mayhew's day, almost every question of church
was also a question of state; and he believed himself to be battling for the cause of civil liberty in
assaulting and execrating, at every opportunity, the
Church of Rome and, more especially, the Church
of England. His expressions of anger and of horror
at the possible introduction of Anglican bishops into
America would, in the light of our present knowledge, seem like the ravings of an eloquent maniac."
His 'A discourse concerning unlimited submission
and non-resistance to the higher powers,' Boston,
I750, was the first treatise written in a comprehensive way, which set forth unmistakably views




NATIVE NEW ENGILANDERS


I5I


which meant concerted resistance to the power and
prerogative of Great Britain. Fifteen years later,
in 'The snare: broken. A thanksgiving-discourse,'
Boston, I766, his language is full of forebodings
mixed with joy at the repeal of the Stamp Act.
Mayhew did not live to read the Bishop of Landaff's sermon delivered in I767 on behalf of the establishment of an American Episcopate, of which
the Library has two editions, but the spirit of his
opposition was continued by Charles Chauncey,
William Livingston, and their associates. The bitterness of this controversy is shown by an examination of the tracts. Its importance is such that many
well-informed historians - among whom Professor
Arthur Lyon Cross holds a prominent positionplace "the apprehension of Episcopacy" as one of
the prime causes leading to the Revolution. The
Library is rich in the materials of this controversy.
Twenty-two of the thirty titles mentioned by William Nelson, the bibliographer who made an especial study of the subject, are here; also five that
were unknown to him.
Of the more important compilations and histories
taking us into the period of the Revolution, Hutchinson's and others have been mentioned. For the
period following that covered by Cotton Mather's
'Magnalia' and bringing the narrative down to
the year of its publication, we have Daniel Neal's
'The history of New-England, containing an impartial account of the civil and ecclesiastical affairs




152 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
of the country,' London, 1720. William Douglas's
'Summary' followed this in I747. Isaac Backus
published at Boston in I777 his 'History of NewEngland, with particular reference to the denomination of Christians called Baptists,' and enlarged
this into his 'Church history of New England,'
Boston, I784-96. Hannah Adams published in a
single volume her 'Summary history of New England,' at Dedham, Massachusetts; reprinted the
next year, 1800, at London; but this work is merely
a compilation from the writings of other historians.




Chapter XII
T1HE MIDDLE COLONIES
XNEW NETHERLANDS was the name given to
that section of what is now the United States
included in the principal parts. of New York, New
Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and a small part
of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Dutch West
India Company, in its organization modelled after
the older and prosperous Dutch East India Company, whose purpose was trade with India, was formally organized in I621. But: the new company,
fashioned on more democratic lines, had very different purposes and objects for existence. It would be
interesting to trace the wonderful and consistent
spirit of the hundred thousand Belgians who were
forced by the Spaniards to flee from their native
country into Holland, and who there, after a struggle lasting many years, finally succeeded in I621 in
putting life into the Dutch West India Company.
Their object was to cripple the power of their old
oppressors, the Spaniards. Theirs was a corporation designed[ to fight a'most powerful government,
to attack it at its most vulnerable points; and
so skillfully were the plans of this Holland-Belgian
Corporation made, that the first twenty years of its
career were financially very profitable, for it fed
153




154 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
upon the Spanish treasure ships and their cargoes
looted from the conquests in Mexico, Central and
South America.
But the Company's settlements in North America were of an entirely different character and purpose, and its right to make a settlement at all came
by a transference to it from the Dutch East India
Company. Henry Hudson, an Englishman, sailing
under the Dutch flag even as late as I6I2, and with
the interests of his employers uppermost in his
heart, was looking for the long-sought short cut or
passage to India. He had been baffled in this endeavor by ice farther north, after which - possibly influenced by information he had received
from his acquaintance, John Smith, regarding the
probability of an opening to the west at about 400
North Latitude - he sailed south and entered the
mouth of the river now called by his name. Upon
this visit of Hudson's rested the claim of Holland
to this vast section, in contradiction to England's
claim to the entire coast along which the Cabots
cruised in I497 or I498, granted over a century later
to the Virginia Companies.
The gigantic schemes of the Dutch West India
Company were largely framed byWilliam Usselincx,
an exiled Antwerp merchant. His efforts were not
confined to Holland, for we find that he applied
to Gustavus Adolphus for authority to establish a
Swedish Company similar to the Dutch West India
Company. This Library has Usselincx's 'Vthforligh




THE MIDDLE COLONIES           I55
Forklaring,' Stockholm, 1626, which recites the
"patent or privilege graciously granted to the new
South Company in the Kingdom of Sweden by the
most illustrious and powerful Prince and Lord, Gustavus Adolphus." The historian Israel Acrelius evidently had not seen this Swedish edition, or he
would have referred to it rather than to the German
translation. These events and the influence of Usselincx brought Swedes and Hollanders together in
American colonization. In I630 the Dutch West
India Company bought from the natives a tract of
land on the banks of the Delaware River, and about
the same period the Swedes colonized the spot where
Lewiston, Delaware, is now located. This was followed by two other Swedish settlements, the larger
and more important being our present Wilmington.
A most authoritative account of these settlements
in what they called New Sweden is given in 'Beskrifning om de Swenska Forsamlingars,' Stockholm,
I759, by Acrelius. The author was in charge of the
Swedish churches in America from I749 to 1756,
and the book contains a full account of these
churches, the colonies to which they ministered, and
their civil history.
Previous to the above happenings, however, the
few trading stations and settlements made by the
Dutch incidental to Hudson's and Cornelius May's
voyages were turned over in 1622 to the West India
Company, whose first director, Peter Minuit, was
appointed in 1626. He was followed by three others,




I56 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Wouter Van Twiller, William Krift, and, finally,
Peter Stuyvesant, who in I664 delivered them all
to the English as spoils of war.
As to the source materials for the Dutch occupation, much has been lost, for the records of the
Dutch West India Company were destroyed. The
State of New York, through generous appropriations, has had the more important materials transscribed from the surviving records and from the collection of documents in the Dutch, English, French,
and Swedish archives relating to the history of New
Netherlands and New York down to I776. They
are invaluable. The 'Documentary History of New
York' by O'Callaghan is of lesser value. The 'Collections' of the New York Historical Society, the
Pennsylvania Archives, and Hazard's Register of
Pennsylvania are in the Library and are mentioned
because of the great dearth of first-hand printed
narratives.
New Netherlands, or later New York, had no historian like Winslow or Bradford, who saw and related happenings from their beginnings. De Vries
was the first historian of the New Netherlands Colony and, excepting Hudson, was the only navigator
who published an account of his voyages during the
Dutch regime. Adriaen van der Donck wrote a
description of New Netherlands entitled, 'Beschryvinge van Nieuvv-Nederlant,' of which a second
edition appeared at Amsterdam in I656. This book
accurately tells of the country, its inhabitants, and
its opportunities.




THE MIDDLE COLONIES           I57
The war between Holland and England, I664 -67, is best narrated in an anonymous book'Kort
en Bondigh Verhael,' Amsterdam, 1667, of which
there was an unauthorized French translation, entitled 'Description exacte de tout ce qui s'est passe
dans les guerres,' Amsterdam, 1668. The reputed
instigator of the war was Sir George Downing, a
nephew of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts,
and a graduate in the first class of the first
American college. He was the victim of scores of
pamphlets written by the Dutch charging him with
animosity toward their fellow countrymen settled
in America, to which he intended as a reply his
'Discourse written by Sir George Downing, the
King of Great Britain's Envoy Extraordinary to
the States of the United Provinces,' London, 1672,
a pamphlet of considerable rarity. The Latin and
Dutch texts of the Treaty of Breda, which confirmed the English occupation, were published at
The Hague in 1667.
Of the later New York histories, compiled from
source materials, those of John Romeyn Brodhead,
'History of the State of New York,' New York,
I853-7I, and of Joseph White Moulton under the
same title, published at New York, 1824-26, are
so trustworthy that they may be associated with the
primary authorities. An earlier history, however, is
that of William Smith, a distinguished lawyer of
New York and Chief Justice of that province. His
work, 'The history of the province of New-York,




I58  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
from the first discovery to the year I732,' London,
I757, has been several times reprinted, and a continuation by J. V. H. Yates was published in I814,
which brings the events down to that year. To the
bibliographer and collector, the Library's copy of
the original I757 edition is interesting. Not only is
it one of only four or five copies known on large paper, but it is also in its original blue wrappers, with
the Fintry House bookplate. Another collector's
prize is the first account of New York printed in
English, Denton's 'Brief Description,' and to a su,
perlative degree the still more rare 'Two YearsJournal in New York' of Charles Wooley. The author
was a clergyman of the Church of England, and
chaplain to Sir Edmund Andros. Both of the above
books have been reprinted more than once.
Much the same comment might be made on the
first issue of Cadwallader Colden's 'History of the
Five Indian Nations.' The second edition, with
additions, alterations, and one of the earliest maps
of New York, is of distinctive merit and useful for
the historian. It was published under the title, 'The
History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada,
which are dependent on the province of New York,'
London, I747. Colden was a pronounced champion
of the Indians and a keen observer. So prejudiced
was he in favor of the native that his reports of the
Indian eloquence at conferences are often questioned.
Most important of recent local New York his



THE MIDDLE COLONIES            159
tories is the production of Isaac N. Phelps Stokes,
'The Iconography of Manhattan Island, I498-I909,
compiled from original sources,' New York, I915 -22. Exhaustive in its compilation of all source
materials pertaining to Manhattan Island, it bids
fair to remain a monument to the subject for years
to come. These volumes are also marvels of the
printer's art.
New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, in all
their early colonization period, are closely associated with the history of New Netherlands, whose
controversies with Connecticut and Maryland over
boundary lines began with the earliest settlements.
The materials for New Jersey's early history
are largely in manuscript, from which the printed
archives of the colony, beginning with the first
grant to Berkeley and Carteret, have been edited
by William A. Whitehead, under the authority of
the state government. The original documents are
in the British Public Record Office and in the New
Jersey archives. Mr. Whitehead also published an
excellent work entitled 'East Jersey under the proprietary governments,' second edition, Newark,
I875.
The Quakers who founded New Jersey and Pennsylvania and those who troubled the Puritans of
New England were related in belief, but had no
other interest in common. The settlements in West
New Jersey and at Burlington were made by Quakers guided by Penn and his co-proprietors, who had




i6o  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
purchased their rights from Carteret's partner,
Berkeley. After these settlements, there were three
governments existing in Jersey: the eastern colony
under Carteret at Elizabethtown, composed of emigrants from all over New England and from Jamaica; the settlement at Burlington above referred
to; and that made by the Fenwick Quakers at Salem, New Jersey. The best history of New Jersey,
a compilation from original documents, is the work
of Samuel Smith, 'The history of the colony of
Nova-Caesaria, or New-Jersey: containing, an account of its first settlement,' Burlington, I765. The
Library's copy of this important book is the RiceMenzies-Ives-Lefferts-Weeks copy, one of the two
uncut copies known, with leaves 91r1" X 63". Inserted in this is the celebrated manuscript letter
mentioned by Whitehead but never seen by him, in
which the Earl of Bath, one of George Carteret's
trustees after his death, offers for sale to Lord Norreys the "entire province, with all Royalties, privileges and advantages thereto belonging as sole proprietor; and a country almost as big as England
planted already with several towns and many inhabitants... and the name thereof is East New
Jersey, belonging to the late Vise Chamberlyne Sir
George Carteret... and the price will be betwixt
5 and 6ooo pounds." Carteret's interest in New
Jersey was devised upon his death in i68o to eight
trustees, and this letter was a search for a purchaser. The method was not successful and finally,




THE MIDDLE COLONIES


I6I


when it was offered at public sale, William Penn
and his associates became the purchasers at a price
of 3400 pounds, a sale which was afterwards confirmed by the. Duke of York.
The above letter and the subsequent sale reinforce the common belief that neither Carteret nor
Berkeley had other interests than for prompt pecuniary profit. To the colonization of Elizabethtown
they contributed nothing. The settlers "purchased
a title to the soil from the Indians and secured a
confirmation of it from Nichols." Grants of land
were also made by Nichols to other settlers, and
this confusion could not fail to bring about conflict
between the Proprietor and the grantees, developing into a struggle that really ended only with the
Revolution. The production of at least two important documents containing incidentally much information about the discontented settlers and their
quarrels with the Proprietors came about from
these conflicting claims. The renowned Elizabethtown Bill in Chancery was printed at New York in
I747, with the title: 'A bill in the Chancery of New
Jersey, at the suit of John Earl of Stair, and others,
proprietors of the eastern-division of New-Jersey.'
This bill was drawn up principally by James Alexander, a prominent lawyer of New Jersey and New
York. It was replied to in 'An Answer to a Bill in
the Chancery of New Jersey at the suit of John,
Earl of Stair,' New York, 1752. The counsel for the
defendants were William Livingston and William




162  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Smith, afterwards of Canada. Both bill and answer
must ever be considered especially valuable historical documents.
The two provinces of New Jersey, both under
proprietors, were the subject of many writings by
settlers. They describe the colony, offer advice to
immigrants, and sometimes give too highly colored
pictures of the many advantages there. The most
important of these are: George Scot of Pitlochie's
'The Model of the government of the province of
East-New-Jersey in America; and encouragements
for such as designe to be concerned there,' Edinburgh, I685; Thomas Budd's 'Good order established in Pennsylvania and New Jersey'; and
Gabriel Thomas's 'An historical and geographical
account of the province and country of Pennsylvania; and of West-New-Jersey,' London, I698.
Each of these books is rare, and the 'Model' is to
the historian a reservoir of information about the
early settlers, the localities, and the experiences of
various individuals.
Of interest for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Maryland history is the grant given in I634 to Sir
Edmund Plowden and his associates for the territory included in the above states, and then called
New Albion. The grant was rendered ineffective by
that given to the Duke of York in I664, heretofore
referred to. The first pamphlet issued for the purpose of inducing emigration to this section was published in I64I, and in I648 there appeared another




THE MIDDLE COLONIES


I63


advertisement of Plowden's enterprise, under the
tide, 'A description of the province of New Albion.
And a Direction for Adventurers with small stock
to get two for one,' printed in the year I648. The
Henry Huth copy is in the Library. The preface is
signed Beauchamp Plantagenet, a name regarded
by some as fictitious. The efforts for colonization of
Plantagenet's New Albion seem to have been abortive, and in 165I Plowden's rights were offered for
sale.
It is inevitable that with Pennsylvania we always
associate William Penn, but we should associate
him with New Jersey also. Not that he alone was
responsible for the several Quaker settlements in
the latter state, but in character and greatness
Penn towers above the larger number of other patrons and adventurers who were associated with
him in colonization enterprises. He may be likened
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey history to the
dominant Winthrop and Winslow in New England.
Yet, withal, most writers are agreed that he had not
the many elements of greatness belonging to Winthrop. My understanding of him is such that we
can compare him more fairly with Roger Williams.
Like Williams, and differing from his Quaker associates, Penn was tolerant to those who differed in
creed; he was a lover of all mankind, sympathetic
and bubbling over with humanity, and he always
believed that good and the divine spirit dwelt in
every man..A different history would be written of




i64 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Pennsylvania if, instead of Penn, his associates and
the many other intolerant Quakers of that day had
been the guiding spirits. Great honor is allotted
to him for his just dealings with the Indians in the
beginning, and throughout his life the attributes of
fairness and toleration prevailed.
From the original manuscripts in various repositories containing material for a study of the early
history of Pennsylvania, there have been printed
the Colonial Records, the Pennsylvania Archives,
the Colonial State Papers, Hazard's Annals, the
Pennsylvania Magazine of History, and other similar works. Robert Proud, one of the best of the
early colonial historians, preserved and published
documents not elsewhere accessible. His 'History
of Pennsylvania, in North America, from the original institution and settlement of that province,'
Philadelphia, 1797-98, is an accurate compilation
and secondary authority. The first historian of
Pennsylvania was Samuel Smith, who wrote the
history of New Jersey already referred to, and from
Smith's manuscripts Proud extracted many facts.
The contemporary printed sources of Pennsylvania's history during the thirty years following
Penn's grant, consist of many small publications
giving important information, of which the Library
has a representative number. The earliest is Penn's
own 'Some account of the province of Pennsilvania
in America,' London, i68i, issued in Dutch and
German editions as well as in the English original.




THE MIDDLE COLONIES


The tract is an argument in favor of colonies, and
his colony in particular. Information for emigrants
is given, its primary purpose being to induce settlement. The next year Penn repeated the effort in
nearly the same language in 'A brief account of the
province of Pennsylvania.' The constitution which
Penn proposed for his colony was issued in I682 under the title, 'The frame of the government of the
province of Pennsylvania.' Following this came the
most important of all the series of William Penn's
contributions, 'A letter from William Penn Proprietaryand Governour of Pennsylvania inAmerica...
To which is added, an account of the city of Philadelphia,' London, I683. This letter, the Huth copy
of which is in the Library, was written after Penn
had been in America over nine months and is a report from personal observations. It also appeared
in Dutch, French, and German. Next in importance to this tract is Penn's 'A further account of
the province of Pennsylvania and its improvements.' There is no title-page or imprint, but it is
signed William Penn, I685, and a copy is in the Library. These accounts, supplemented by Budd's
'Good order established in Pennsylvania' and 'A
letter from Dr. More,' give sufficient information to
picture the province at the time. Many, if not all,
of the above -were meant as bait for emigrants, and
not the least important among them was Gabriel
Thomas's 'An historical and geographical account
of the province and country of Pennsylvania; and of




i66  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
West-New-Jersey,' London, I698. Thomas had resided in America, and his book with its map is a
prime source. The Edgar-Crane copy, in primitive
condition, is in the Library. Seldom referred to,
but a first-hand account, is Richard Frame's 'A
short description of Pennsylvania,' the only copy
known being in the possession of the Library Company of Philadelphia; this is accessible in a reprint
privately issued in i867, and also in the series of
photostat facsimiles made at the Massachusetts
Historical Society.
Reference has been made to the voluminous collection of Quaker tracts in this Library. These were
issued during the period of Quaker persecution in
New England and while the Middle Colonies were
being permanently settled. Many of the authors
were close associates of Penn. George Keith was
the most brilliant of them all, and of his writings the
Library has a goodly lot. But with all his brilliancy,
Keith was a restless trouble-maker and at the end
of his life became a " strenuous and proselyting representative of the Church of England." Omitting
church controversial tracts, his work 'A journal of
travels from New-Hampshire to Caratuck,' London,
1706, has the most of historical interest. Sufficient
mention has been made of George Fox's numerous
writings, some of which if read would occupy the
time of one of his sermons to his patient audience,
viz., five hours.
Without considering further the Quaker religious




THE MIDDLE COLONIES


i67


writers about Pennsylvania, we come to a production which deserves mention. This was written by
another Keith, Sir William, who was governor of
Pennsylvania from 17I7 to I7'26. He started to
write a series entitled: 'The History of the British
Plantations in America. With a chronological Account of the most remarkable Things, which happen'd to the first Adventurers in their several Discoveries of that New World.' Both the title and its
inconclusive ending remind us of the New Englander, Thomas Prince. The series was not continued, but the beginning was of considerable merit.
Part I has the sub-title: 'The history of Virginia,
with Remarks on the Trade and Commerce of that
Colony,' London, I738. The Library's copy is uncut and in its original wrappers.
The many treaties between the colonial governments of Pennsylvania and of New York, principally with the Five Nations of Indians, made
during the first half of the eighteenth century, are
important in Colonial-Indian history. Furthermore, because these treaties were in nearly all cases
issued from the press of the illustrious American,
Benjamin Franklin, at Philadelphia, they are of
prime interest to the early imprint collector. The
Library contains several of them, as well as the
reputed finest production of Franklin's press, the
translation by Chief Justice Logan of' M. T. Cicero's
Cato Major or his Discourse of Old-Age,' Philadelphia, I744. There are also some of his famous 'Poor




i68  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Richard's Almanacks.' Franklin's press also yielded
important material relating to the colony, such as
Charles Calvert's 'Articles of Agreement made and
concluded upon between the Right Honourable the
Lord Proprietary of Maryland, and the Honourable
the Proprietarys of Pensilvania,' Philadelphia, I733.
Equally important are his 'A collection of all the
laws of the province of Pennsylvania,' Philadelphia,
1742, with the 'Appendix,' and 'The charters of the
province of Pennsylvania and city of Philadelphia'
- all of which are in the Library.
Later events, concerning especially Indian and
French relations, are narrated in William Smith's
'A brief view of the conduct of Pennsylvania,' London, I756, and his 'A brief state of the province,'
London, I755, which bring Pennsylvania history to
the period of the beginning of the Seven Years'
War.
Sharing in one respect the belief of Mayhew,
Mather, and Roger Williams, William Penn dealt in
strange ethnological speculations. He traced to his
own satisfaction the stock of the American natives
to the Jewish tribes. The Spaniard, Las Casas,
likewise accepted this view, and during the middle
of the seventeenth century at least four important
books on this subject were written, all in this Library. First there appeared Manasseh ben Israel's
'The hope of Israel,' in I65o, and in the same year
Thomas Thorowgood's 'Ievves in America, or,
Probabilities that the Americans are of that race.'




THE MIDDLE COLONIES           169
This was followed by a rejoinder from Hamon L'Estrange: 'Americans no Iewes, or Improbabilities
that the Americans are of that race'; and a reply by
Thorowgood was made to this in I660, under the
title: 'Jews in America, or Probabilities, that those
Indians are Judaical, made more probable.' The
last work is also important for the light it throws on
the missionary endeavors of the "Apostle to the Indians," John Eliot.




Chapter XIII
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES
OOME of the source authorities for the earlier
history of Maryland have been mentioned in
connection with the subject of Virginia. The Jesuit
account, of which the manuscript is in Loyola College, Baltimore, entitled 'A relation of the colony of
the Lord Baron of Baltimore,' recites the voyage of
the 'Ark and Dove,' and early life in the settlement.
The second narrative, and the one of greatest value
to the student of Lord Baltimore's plantation, is 'A
Relation of Maryland; together, vvith a map of the
countrey, the conditions of plantation,' which was
printed at London in I635. The Huth copy is in
the Library. The book was prepared under Lord
Baltimore's supervision and is an authoritative
description of the country, the colonization, and the
Indians. The map, often wanting but here present,
is of especial interest in a consideration of the
boundary disputes to which reference has been
made, and the books pertaining thereto, viz., on
the Maryland side'Leah and Rachel,' 'Hammond
versus Heamans,' and on the Virginia side 'Virginia
and Maryland, or the Lord Baltimore's case uncased
and answered,' Leonard Strong's 'Babylon's fall,'
and the answer to this by Langford. The account
170




THE SOUTHERN COLONIES


i7I


of the indented servant, George Alsop, entitled 'A
Character of the province of Maryland,' London,
I666, is a rarity that did much to encourage emigration.
Simultaneously with the troubles with the Quakers and the Baptists, farther north a tract warfare
was being carried on between the proprietor of
Maryland and some of his colonists, in consequence
of the oath of fidelity required by Lord Baltimore
of all new comers. First there appeared Leonard
Strong's 'Babylon's fall in Maryland,' written by
a trouble-making Puritan who acted for the colonists as their agent in London and neverstated plain
facts. John Langford then wrote 'A just and cleere
refutation of a false and scandalous pamphlet,
entitled, Babylons fall in Maryland,' London, I655,
which defence was further augmented by Hammond's 'Leah and Rachel.' In fact, lacking in the
spirit of reciprocity, the Puritan attack upon Maryland's attitude in religious matters did not cease
until all restrictions against them had been withdrawn.
A great deal yet remains to be done for Maryland's history. Entrusted to the custody of the
Maryland Historical Society are a large part of the
state papers. Others exist in the State Library at
Annapolis. The loss of many when the capitol was
removed to Annapolis, and of others by fire, was a
great calamity. Of the later and secondary source
histories, Bozman's 'The history of Maryland, from




I72 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
its first settlement, in I633,' Baltimore, 1837, and
Scharf's 'History of Maryland,' Baltimore, 1879,
are the best compilations.
The Library has the earliest printed book on the
subject of the history of the two Carolinas, called
'A Brief Description of the Province of Carolina on
the coasts of Floreda,' London, I666. It is a short
description of the country and the proceedings of
the settlers in 1664. The Crown sent Thomas Ash to
the colony to investigate conditions, and under the
title, 'Carolina; or A description of the present state
of that country,' London, I682, we find he did this
work satisfactorily and gave a full report. Still later,
John Archdale wrote 'A new description of that fertile and pleasant province of Carolina,' London,
I707, which added little to what had already been
published.
Among books of the earlier period already considered is John Lederer's 'The Discoveries of John
Lederer, in three several marches from Virginia, to
the west of Carolina.' The map accompanying it,
together with the map which should be found in the
'Brief Description' above, are the earliest maps of
the Carolinas. Hilton's 'A relation of a discovery
lately made,' also heretofore mentioned, gives an
account of the expedition which first visited Port
Royal and sailed along the coasts of the Carolinas.
The fact that the proprietors of the northern and
southern Carolina colonies, while distinct in government, were under one corporation, has led to the




THE SOUTHERN COLONIES


I73


documents relating to them being mixed one with
the other. Both, however, were dependent on the
Lords of Trade and Plantation, or Board of Trade,
and in consequence of this the English archives
are unusually voluminous in matters pertaining to
them. Samuel Wilson, secretary to the Proprietors
of Carolina, wrote informingly about the laws, government and people, under the title: 'An Account of
the Province of Carolina in America,' London, 1682;
and John Lawson later wrote his 'A new voyage to
Carolina,' London, I709. So truthful and well
written was this work that John Brickell pirated it
under the title 'The Natural History of NorthCarolina,' Dublin, I737.
Among the later histories of the two Carolinas,
compilations, and secondary authorities, in the
Library, may be mentioned Williamson's 'North
Carolina,' Martin's 'North Carolina,' Ramsay's
'South Carolina,' and Hewatt's 'An historical account of the rise and progress of the colonies of
South Carolina and Georgia,' perhaps the most valuable of them all. Curious for its connection with
the Northwest Territory history and cartography is
Daniel Coxe's 'A description of the English province of Carolana, by the Spaniards call'd Florida,'
London, 1726, from the fact that it contains a map
showing the Great Lakes region - one of the earliest giving definite outline. The text is a compilation
from various sources.
The colony of Georgia came into existence




174  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
through the efforts of James Edward Oglethorpe, a
man of unblemished character and a member of the
House of Commons. As a member of this body, he
was made chairman of a committee to visit prisons
and suggest measures of reform. While examining
the prisoners confined for debt, men of respectable
connections, guilty of no crime, yet subjected to
legal thraldom most vile, his sympathy was excited,
and out of this sympathygrew his plan for liberating
them, upon the condition that they would become
colonists in America. None of the depraved were included in this philanthropic scheme. The project
was charitable, loyal, and patriotic, and so appealed
to the British nation. Accordingly a charter for
twenty years' existence was prepared and granted
in June, I732, and "The Trustees for establishing
the colony of Georgia in America" soon after began
their work. That all might be informed of the benevolent character of the undertaking, Oglethorpe
himself prepared'Anew and accurate account of the
provinces of South-Carolina and Georgia,' London,
I732. This gives concisely the designs of the Trustees. Benjamin Martyn, secretary of the Council,
issued his 'Reasons for establishing the colony of
Georgia,' London, I733, with great effect, for the
tract was widely circulated and in consequence
there was a considerable emigration. The history
of the province down to I74I is told in Martyn's
'An Account shewing the Progress of the Colony of
Georgia,' London, I74I, and in his 'An Impartial




ITHE SOUTHERN COLONIES


I75


Enquiry into the state and utility of the province of
Georgia,' London, I74I. Both tracts are of great
importance.
The settlement of Frederica, with an account of
Savannah and the adjoining country, is told in
Francis Moore's 'A voyage to Georgia. Begun in
the year I735,' London, I744. The story of the
transportation of the Saltzburghers to Georgia is
given in William Best's 'The relief of the persecuted Protestants of Saltzburgh, and the support of
the Colony of Georgia,' London, I734. Criticism of
the constitution of the colony and of Oglethorpe's
administration, by a group of malcontents who had
withdrawn to a neighboring colony, is the subject of
Patrick Tailfer's 'A true and historical narrative of
the colony of Georgia in America,' Charles-Town,
I74I 
The constant menace to the very existence of the
Georgia colony because of its proximity to the
Spanish territory of Florida culminated in I740 in a
determination on General Oglethorpe's part to invade Florida and reduce St. Augustine. All this was
in anticipation of an expected declaration of war between England and Spain, and led to the most disastrous episode in Oglethorpe's career, for the war
did not follow. The expedition and its failure are
clearly told in two tracts, the first 'An impartial account of the late expedition against St. Augustine
under General Oglethorpe,' London, I742, and the
second, 'A relation or journal of a late expedition to




176 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
the gates of St. Augustine,' London, I744. John
Harris's'A complete collection of voyages,'London,
1744-48, has one of the most adequate accounts of
the province to that date, prefaced by an excellent
map. The Library contains tracts, unnecessary to
list here, rejoinders to those issued by Martyn and
by malcontents of the colony, also the writings of
Whitefield and Wesley, of a peaceful nature. Of the
later histories and of secondary authority, Hewatt's
'Carolina and Georgia,' and the books on Georgia
by De Brahm, Stevens, and McCall, all trustworthy
histories, are in the Library.




Chapter XIV
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS
PpTHE colonists of France and of England joined
actively in the succession of wars between the
European powers that were waged from I688 to
I755. The so-called King William's War, I688-90,
and Queen Anne's War, or the War of the Spanish
Succession, — the latter bitterly fought by the
French and English colonies, — are the subject of
narratives of contemporary date in the Library.
The chief English early authority for Queen Anne's,
or, as it was sometimes known in New England,
"Lovewell's War," is Samuel Penhallow's 'The
history of the wars of New England with the Eastern Indians,' Boston, I726.
The period from I700 to the beginning of the
French and Indian War in I75.5 was fruitful in the
holding of many Indian conferences and the making
of treaties with the native chieftains. The Library
contains a goodly number of these in their original
printing. Possibly the most important of the treaties historically was the one made at Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, in I744, which ceded to the English
an indefinite extent of territory. This is in the Library; also 'The Proceedings of Commissioners on
Indian Affairs from Six Provinces, met at Albany,
'77




178 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
anno I754.' Attached to the latter are some seventyfive letters and documents signed by members of
the Convention. It will be remembered that at this
Convention Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for
the union of the Anglo-American continental colonies, which was not adopted at the time but was
revived in the days of the Revolution. The Shelburne Papers, of which more particular mention
will be made later, contain comments upon the
important Albany Congress and give the Halifax
plan of union which was presented by the British
ministry.
It seems strange to connect the politics and wars
of Europe with colonial affairs in America. In I 842
Lord Macaulay, writing on Frederick the Great and
his robbery of Silesia from Maria Theresa, notwithstanding the Pragmatic Sanction, commented on
this event:
The evils produced by his wickedness were felt in lands
where the name of Prussia was unknown: and in order that
he might rob a neighbor whom he had promised to defend,
black men fought on the coast of Coromandel, and red men
scalped each other by the Great Lakes of North America.
The reflection of this event in America was King
George's War between France and England, begun
in 1744. The siege and capture of Louisburg by
New England soldiers assisted by a British squadron were the cause of many a sermon, proclamation
and broadside. The Library contains several entries, one of especial authority being the tract sent




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS          I79
by Pepperell to his friend in England and appearing under the title: 'A letter from William Shirley,
Esq., Governor of Massachuset's Bay, to His Grace
the Duke of Newcastle: with a Journal of the
Siege of Louisbourg,' London, I746. Rev. Charles
Chauncey's sermon: 'Marvellous Things done by
the Right Hand and Holy Arm of God in getting
him the Victory,' Boston, I745, and many of like
kind preached by Byles, Prince and others, attest
the interest and the participation of the colonies.
The important military events of the war are also
related in 'An Account of the French Settlements in
North America... claimed and improved by the
French King,' Boston, I746. The Library also
has twenty-one original Louisburg papers in manuscript, which are of the greatest interest. The Articles of Capitulation of Louisburg, in June, I745,
are here, in the handwriting of Captain T. W. Waldron, being an absolutely contemporary copy from
the original. This war lasted until I748 and was
terminated by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Our chief interest, however, for the early eighteenth century is in the so-called French and Indian,
or the Seven Years' War, really beginning in the
colonies in 1755 (although war was not formally declared until I756), and ending with the Treaty of
Paris in I763.. Much might be written about the
causes leading up to this struggle between the
French and English, which terminated with complete domination by the English in North America.




I80 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


The war marks an epoch in American history, from
the fact that it eliminated the French as a formidable power. This is the period when England received her greatest colonial accessions, and with
them a national debt unprecedented in history up to
that time. The liquidation of this debt and the payment of the interest upon it led to colonial taxation by the mother country, which provided the
principal cause of the Revolution. Whilst this war
brought on the conditions leading to resistance, and
many students of history begin the period of the
Revolution with the ending of these hostilities, yet
it would not be difficult to show that there were
serious differences other than those of taxation between the colonists and the mother country, even
as far back as the Restoration of Charles II in I660.
The king's prerogative early brought about divergences of opinion, long before Navigation Laws,
Acts of Trade, Writs of Assistance and other measures led to actual hostilities.
The books, pamphlets, and tracts in the Library
on the war, printed between I754 and I768, number
over two hundred, and obviously it is impossible
here to mention even all those of great importance.
Among the general accounts which reflect current
opinion or give contemporary record of the most
startling events may be mentioned Mitchell's 'The
Contest in America between Great Britain and
France,' London, I757; 'A Complete History of the
Present War,' London, 1761; and the most valuable




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS


i8i


of all, with its eighteen maps and plans, Thomas
Mante's 'History of the Late War in NorthAmerica... including the Campaigns of 1763 and
I764 against His Majesty's Indian Enemies,' London, 1772. Captain John Knox's 'An Historical
Journal of the Campaigns in North America,' London, 1769, and John Entick's 'General History of
the Late War,' London, 1763-64, are the largest,
and on the whole trustworthy authorities.
The earliest colonial newspaper, the Boston News
Letter, published its first number in I705. Thereafter, until the days of the Revolution, this paper
furnishes a medium of information on current
events, and for this and the preceding wars much
of interest may be gleaned from it. The Boston
Gazette, founded in I719, the New England Courant
in 1721, and the Newport Mercury, by James Franklin, in 1758, also may be used to advantage. In the
newspaper section of the Library are photostatic
files, complete as far as possible, of the News Letter
and the Mercury, with broken files of the Gazette
and Courant. From the English viewpoint, much
more may be learned from the files in the Library of
the Annual Register, the London Gazette, and the
London Chronicle. And a complete file of the
'Gentleman's Magazine,' beginning in 173I, is a
reservoir of information.
Of great importance and nearly the sole source
for information on the forts on the frontiers is Mary
Ann Rocque's 'A set of plans and forts in America,




182  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
reduced from actual surveys,' London, 1763. This
book is rare and for a study of the military aspect of
the war is of infinite use.
Of the spectacular doings of the ranger, Major
Robert Rogers, whose work during the early part of
the war was of the utmost value to the English and
whose daring exploits have connected his name
with many a spot on the lakes, we have several narratives. His own writings, not always modest when
speaking of himself, are the 'Journals of Major
Robert Rogers,' London, 1765, and his 'Concise
Account of North America,' published at London
the same year. And here let it be mentioned that in
this war he performed his last meritorious service to
his country and to himself: had Rogers died immediately after this war he would have been a hero; as
it was, he died a scoundrel and a traitor.
The early years of the war are of considerable interest because of the advent of George Washington
into military training and into public affairs. The
Dinwiddie Papers, now in print, are source materials for the military operations at Great Meadows and Fort Necessity, which were so disastrous
to the English. With these should be consulted
Charles Thomson's 'Enquiry into the Causes of the
Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians,' London, I759, and Thomas Jefferys's 'General Topography of North America.' The latter
shows the route of Washington in his campaign of
I754. Of greater interest, however, is his own




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS          183
'Journal of Major George Washington sent by the
Hon. Robert Dinwiddie... to the Commandant of
the French Forces on Ohio, Williamsburg printed':
London, reprinted, I754. Washington kept another journal, which fell into the hands of the
French at Fort Necessity. Two years later, translated into French and in garbled condition, it appeared as 'Memoire contenant le precis des faits,
avec leurs pieces justificatives, pour servir de reponse aux Observations envoyees par les ministres
d'Angleterre, dans les cours de l'Europe,' Paris,
I756. In I757 the above was translated into English, and published by William Livingston in a tract
with the title: 'Review of the military operations
in North America,' London, I757. This included
the re-Englished journal and an account of Braddock's defeat.
'The Expedition of Major General Braddock to
Virginia,' London, I755, is a rare and, according to
Parkman, not a truthful narrative. 'Six Plans of
the Different Dispositions of the English Army under the Command of the Late General Braddock,'
London, I758, was printed for Jeffreys, the cartographer and publisher, and graphically shows the
battle. But three copies of this atlas are recorded.
A detailed report of the defeat is given in the Rev.
Charles Chauncey's 'A Letter to a Friend; giving a
concise, but just, Account... of the Ohio Defeat,'
Boston, I755. Important source material has also
been collected and reprinted in Winthrop Sargent's




184 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
'Braddock's Expedition.' The series of forty-six
letters known as 'L'Observateur hollandois... sur
l'etat present des affaires de l'Europe,' La Haye,
I755-59, in six volumes, throws much light on the
period. They were written by Monsieur Moreau,
historian of France, and privately printed. General
affairs of the war, the death of Jumonville, the surrender of Fort Necessity, and Braddock's expedition are described. Sets of the work are rare.
Of the Niagara expedition, planned by Braddock
for Shirley and ending without result, the Library
has the anonymous tract, 'The Conduct of Major
Gen. Shirley... briefly stated,' possibly written by
Shirley himself, but generally ascribed to William
Alexander; Chauncey's 'Second Letter to a Friend';
and Livingston's 'Review.'
Dieskau's campaign, which ended with his defeat
by Sir William Johnson, is best told in Hutchinson's
'History,' and in Chauncey's 'Second Letter.' A
rare and important tract relating to Crown Point is
the privately printed 'An Answer to a Letter from a
Gentleman in the Country to his Friend in Town,'
New York, Parker, I756.
The master mind of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, came to the rescue of England in her darkest
hour of defeat in the French War. The early campaigns had been disastrous. Loudon was recalled.
Sir Jeffrey Amherst was made Major-General and
sent to take Louisburg with a view to reaching
Quebec, which he promptly accomplished. This




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS          I85
story is told in 'Authentic Account of the Reduction of Louisburg,' London, I758. In this work,
General Wolfe first appears as a brilliant officer.
The campaigns of Abercrombie against Crown
Point and of Forbes against Fort Duquesne are best
told in the current newspaper accounts, and in the
official reports in the English Public Record Office,
many of which have been printed. These records
include General Amherst's letters, his instructions
to Prideaux, and the letters of Johnson to Amherst.
The source materials for all the campaigns and accompanying events are plentiful and accurate for
both the English and French sides. Upon the English side, 'A Letter to the Right Honorable William
Pitt,' London, I759, deserves mention, and in reviewing the French situation, foremost among the
special histories of the war is the 'Me(moires sur la
derniere guerre' of Pouchot, which in I866 was
rendered into English by Hough, with the title,
'Memoir upon the Late War in North America,
between the French and English, I755-60; followed
by observations,' Roxbury, 1866.
The greatest single event of the whole war was
the capture of Quebec by Wolfe in I759. His bravery and daring when suffering physical distress,
and finally his spectacular death at the moment
of victory on the Plains of Abraham, are the first
and last remembrances of the contest. Englishmen
regard him as one of their military heroes, and are
ever grateful to him for winning Canada for the




i86  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
British Empire. Possibly our early, and great,
American painter, Benjamin West, has assisted in
making him an American hero, also, by his realistic
painting of Wolfe's death amid the battle scene.
His ringing last words, with victory present, are
taught the English schoolboy along with Nelson's
last sentence at Trafalgar. Montcalm, the victim
of jealousy and corruption, was an equally brave
Frenchman. His love for his country and his honor,
though defeated, have given him as high a place in
the pride of all Frenchmen.
Many are the contemporary journals and narratives of the siege of Quebec, both from the English
and from the French viewpoint. One of these is
the manuscript of Jonathan French in this Library,
narrating his experiences in the campaign of I757.
The Shelburne Papers offer a field for further investigation of the military and diplomatic relations
of the times, which only careful study can properly
unravel and place in condition for the investigator's
use. Most of these journals have now been printed
and the Library possesses a number of these publications. The accounts in the'Annual Register' have
been compiled with care. But the work surpassing
all others as a voluminous compilation is a recent
publication entitled 'The Siege of Quebec and the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham,' by A. Doughty,
Quebec, IgoI, in six volumes. This work includes
much of the material in private ownership, heretofore unpublished. But much more, pertaining to




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS


I87


the earlier part of the war and to Quebec, undoubtedly still remains in private libraries. Two
instances are the Abercrombie Papers, in numerous
volumes, and the official correspondence, of General Robert Monckton, both sold at London in I92I
to private collectors. The Province of Quebec has
published a collection of manuscripts in twelve volumes under the title: 'Collection des manuscrits
du marechal de Levis,' Quebec,, 889-95, which includes the journals and letters of M. de Burlamaqui, Marquis de Montcalm, Marquis de Vaudreuil,
the intendant Bigot, and miscellaneous relations,
adding these to the already long list of materials
available for study.
For the progress of the armies of Amherst, after
the capture of Montreal, and for the end of the war,
Knox, Mante, and Rogers's 'Journal' give satisfactory accounts. Of Major Robert Rogers's expedition westward, under General Amherst's orders,
for securing the possession of Detroit, and of its surrender, we have an account in his 'Journal.'
The much censured Vaudreuil, Bigot, and Cadet,
on their return to France, were subjected to trials
for enormities which are recorded in 'Observations
on Certain Peculations in New France.' These matters are also more fully considered in the three volumes of 'Memoire pour Messire Frangois Bigot,
ci-devant Intendant de Justice,... en Canada, accuse,' Paris, I763. This work is a refutation by
Bigot of the charges against him, after he was ban



I88  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
ished for life and his estates confiscated. There is
in the third volume the official 'Jugement rendu,'
also a 'M~moire' by Vaudreuil, who was acquitted,
giving a summary of his defence. There is much
source material in these volumes, of which the
copies at Quebec, Harvard, and in this Library are
the only ones we can locate with complete texts.
Of collateral interest is the account of the siege
of Detroit by Pontiac three years after the French
surrender to the English. The valuable fur trade
with the Indians, enjoyed by the French for many
years, as well as the coveted friendships with them,
were threatened, possibly destroyed, by the English. Stories which circulated among the Indians,
of a forthcoming French army for the recapture of
Detroit, were believed, and undoubtedly there were
other reasons to convince Pontiac and his allies that
success would attend their efforts to drive out the
English. The siege and attendant bloody encounters about Detroit were the outcome, in the summer of I763. In the fourth volume of the Munsell
Historical Series a narrative is printed from a manuscript purporting to have been written by Major
Rogers. No proof of such authorship is offered,
but a conclusion is reached that it is the journal
which he advertised as forthcoming, in his last book
published. The manuscript was sold in the Menzies
library in 1876, and this account has always been
accepted as authoritative for the events of the siege.
The story of the discovery of the manuscript in a




FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS


I89


Swiss bookshop, and its identification, is a romance
for the book collector. At the sale of the Henry F.
DePuy Library a long letter by Captain James
MacDonald —one of a series of four written during
the summer to a brother officer in England - came
to light. Further investigation brought out the fact
that two of the four letters were: bound up with the
Henry Bouquet papers at the British Museum and
that the remaining one was in the hands of an English collector. The last was recently added to this
Library, together with photographs of those in the
British Museum. These letters furnish a new and
circumstantial account of the siege, which is of
especial interest to Michigan historians.
The affair at Detroit was but one part of a widespread Indian War, joined in by the French, against
the English. Information about this is best obtained from the work of Dr. William Smith, provost of the College of Philadelphia, under the title:
'An Historical Account of the Expedition against
the Ohio Indians, in the year I764, under the
command of Henry Bouquet,' Philadelphia, 1765.
The map accompanying the volume was made by
Thomas Hutchins. The London reprint, as well as
the edition in French, 'Relation historique de l'expedition contre les Indiens,' is in the Library. Bouquet was sent by General Amherst to the relief of
Fort Pitt in 1763, and in the following year he was
sent against the Ohio Indians. The manuscripts,
letters, and documents of Bouquet relating to mili



Igo WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
tary events in America from I757 to I765, occupy
thirty volumes in the British Museum.
The treaty signed at Paris, on the Ioth of February, 1763, extinguished the French empire in
North America. The event marks an epoch in
American history, as in that of France and England.
France lost the colonies upon which she had expended much treasure. Her ambitions for continental control were frustrated. Her humiliation was
deep and keenly felt, and for years the rancor remained in her heart which finally found expression
in open assistance to the English colonists in their
effort for independence. In the days of I778,
whetted by the judicious Franklin, the feeling of
hatred toward England and of revenge for past defeats burst forth in the French people so passionately and powerfully, that neither the king nor his
ministers could stem the tide. Help to the colonists
was first given secretly. Beaumarchais's companies
and their activities were but poorly concealed.
Finally open assistance was given, with resultant
war between England and France. Like knights of
old came Lafayette and his associates, with good
will to the new spirit of independence; but back of
all lay hatred for England and the desire for revenge, as well as for the curbing of English power.




Chapter XV
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
rTHE contest between the military and naval
power of Great Britain and that of her colonies
in North America was the ultimate expression of
pronounced differences in opinion, not of the inhabitants of the colonies and the mother country as
units, but of the Conservative or Tory, and liberal
or Whig elements of the population on both sides of
the Atlantic. The many hundreds of controversial
pamphlets written and published during those
times that tried men's souls were the expression
in the colonies of the political differences between
the patriot or American Whig, and the Loyalist or
Tory pamphleteers. And while the Loyalists' pamphlets were in the minority, their case had able
advocates. On the other side of the Atlantic, Whig
and Tory partisans in Parliament engaged in conflicts as bitter as any that took place upon the
battlefields. The speeches of Chatham, Shelburne,
Barre, Camden, Conway, Burke, and Fox, although not always agreeing with all the principles
for which the colonists were fighting, or with the
remedies they advocated, yet were so in sympathy
with the colonists' cause in general that it is safe to
'9'




192 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
say there would have been no revolution had Parliament and the king been with them.
For an understanding of these differences, which
caused such a battle of the pamphleteers, let us
very briefly state: (i) the grievances of the colonists with the mother country; (2) the attitude of
the colonists; (3) the differences in the two parties
in England as to colonial policy and governmental
principles, thereby offering subject-matter for all
those who felt called upon to engage in the discussion of the controversy.
The grievances of the colonists were many. They
began as early as i66o, and until the rupture England was still enacting laws whose enforcement produced irritation. First came Navigation Laws, the
intent of which was to give Great Britain world
naval supremacy. Then, at the instigation of the
mercantile classes of England, Acts of Trade were
passed to control colonial commerce. Following
these came acts to prevent the establishment of
manufacturing in the colonies, with the purpose of
protecting British manufactures. In order to enforce the above, colonial admiralty courts, boards
of customs, etc., were established. Then came the
port charges for commercial towns, all in the interests of the British manufacturers. The colonial
policy for years had been dictated by the mercantile and manufacturing classes of England. The
people and the government came to regard the colonies as feeders for the trade, navigation, and manu



THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION          I93
factures of the parent state. Even Pitt, Burke, and
Shelburne accepted this view. The Library contains copies of many, if not all, of these acts as
presented in Parliament. The doctrine and the
enactment of these laws came to be a commercial
policy, not a political expedient.
The enforcement of the Navigation Laws was
taken seriously in hand for the first time in I755.
To prevent the evasions that had long been practised, the government now put into use the most
formidable weapon for enforcement, the "Writ of
Assistance." 'Then it was, in I76I, that the lawyer
James Otis resisted the granting of these writs before the Superior Court of Massachusetts. John
Adams wrote of this bold action: "Then and there
was the first scene of the first act of opposition to
the arbitrary claims of Great Britain. Then and
there the child of independence was born." This
famous speech of Otis's was never printed except
from the notes made by John Adams. Shortly
thereafter, —in I762,-Otis's 'A Vindication of
the Conduct of the House of Representatives' was
published. This, according to Tudor, "may be considered the original source from which all subsequent arguments against taxation were derived."
And again John Adams says: "How many volumes
are concentrated in this little fugitive pamphlet,
the production of a few hurried hours!... Look
over the Declaration of rights and wrongs issued
by Congress in I774. Look over the Declaration




194 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
of Independence in I776. Look into the writings
of Doctor Price and Doctor Priestley.... What
can you find that is not to be found in solid substance in this Vindication of the House of Representatives? "
Tyler speaks of the Revolution as a drama in
which Otis was a very great actor. His mighty
part, however, was played and completed in the
earlier acts. At the outset no one is so prominent.
He even speaks the prologue. "It is he who rushes
upon the front of the stage in the first scene, in
the second, in the third. As the play goes on, he is
still in the foreground -his flashing eyes, his passionate words, his gestures of anger or of supplication, his imperious personality, seeming to direct
the course of events and to mark him the hero of the
whole plot. But, suddenly, long before the climax is
reached he disappears from the stage altogether."
James Otis has no real part in the Revolution after
I769.
Jonathan Mayhew's 'Unlimited Submission and
Non-resistance to the Higher Powers,' published in
1750, was written for the purpose of repelling the
proposed establishment of Episcopacy in America.
This was another of the causes of discontent. The
controversy has been written about extensively and
is covered in the Library by the Nelson collection of
Episcopacy pamphlets. The principles announced
by Mayhew place his tract with Otis's 'Vindication,' with his 'The Rights of the British Colonies




THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION


I95


Asserted and Proved,' and his 'Considerations on
Behalf of the Colonists.' In the last Otis declared
for commercial and political independence, and his
expressed anticipation of results was verified by the
forthcoming conflict. About these important pamphlets may be grouped at least: a hundred others,
first published in America before I776 and mostly
reprinted in England, on one side or the other of
the burning questions. The above are included in
the second heading under our plan of consideration.
The time was at hand when every man had to
pass the trying ordeal of deciding what he thought
and what he must do. His life and property with
the welfare of his family were at stake. When the
project for independence became the issue, then the
advocates of the rights of the colonists, who were
not in accord on many paramount questions, but
who as a whole might be called American Whigs,
divided into two groups. One of these, including
Daniel Dulany, Joseph Galloway, and John Joachim
Zubly, who never assented to independence and
remained firm in this opinion, came to form the
body of the Tory or Loyalist element, some mild,
and others militant in spirit. Starting with the same
opinions as the above, those who became patriots in
action and in writings, like Robert Morris, James
Wilson, John Dickinson, William Smith, and many
others, reluctantly but surely succumbed to the
pressure of events. Thereafter they put forth their
utmost efforts for independence and in many cases
made the greatest sacrifices.




I96 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Party changes were frequent and pronounced.
Daniel Dulany in I765 issued his'Considerations
on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes,' with 'North
America' in the imprint as the place of publication.
With convincing logic he fixed upon the true issue.
The colonies were to be taxed without representation. He demonstrated that this was illegal, and
to his many followers he proved it. Had he held
firmly to this opinion, as then expressed, to the
point of resistance, he would have stood with Otis,
Adams, Hamilton and the host of patriots. But he
promptly and decidedly faced about in July, I776.
Although he always denied the propriety of Parliament taxing the colonies, he regarded independence
as seditious and revolutionary. Thereafter he was
bitterly denounced as a Tory - his property was
confiscated, and he retired from all activities, never
to be heard of again on the pages of history.
When the crisis was reached, thoughts crystallized quickly. Those of one side appeared in the
writings of Samuel Seabury, Joseph Galloway,
Daniel Leonard, Jonathan Odell, and of the other,
with equal force, from their Whig opponents. Bitterness began with the gathering of the first Continental Congress in I774. Then both contestants
saw that a great crisis was impending, and each
side was so earnest in its convictions that it soon
became clear that lives would be laid down in defence of beliefs. After July 4, 1776, there was no
longer place for further pamphlet controversy and




THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION


I97


argument. From then to the end, the productions
of those Loyalists who dared to write and publish
their works surreptitiously in America, or who fled
to England and there expressed themselves, were
emotional and sometimes vindictive. In many
cases misrepresentation and even deliberate lying
were indulged in. All argumentative discussion
disappeared.
We have been taught from childhood that one
sentence settled the whole question of the right to
independence. Americans have no doubt about the
constitutional merit of the controversy. "Taxation
without representation is tyranny" -and with
such a belief we had a right to be free and independent. That the Loyalists did not immediately subside and agree was due to their stupidity. They
admitted "No taxation without representation,"
but everything hinged on the meaning of the word 
"representation." There the argument began, and
even to this day it is not decisively finished. Writs
of Assistance were measures for the enforcement of
taxation laws, and such methods Otis satisfactorily
opposed as illegal, even as in our day the right of
search for contraband has settled into an invasion
of personal rights.
With the foregoing brief explanation of the party
differences in the ranks of the colonists, let us as
briefly consider the third aspect of our survey: the
differences between the two parties in England as
to colonial policy and governmental principles.




198 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
The hero of the English people in I760, when
George II died, was Pitt. The crisis of the struggle
for English or French domination was passed. The
new king, however, had not been educated in the
school of Pitt. He had grown up under the care of
the Earl of Bute, a staunch and bigoted believer in
royal prerogative, who instilled in George III the
belief that his chief function in life was to break
the power of the wealthy landholding Whig houses.
The party which this new king was to organize and
head had no predecessor in history. The Toryism
of the Stuarts or of later reigns was not that of the
days of I770. The word hate is the only one to
use in expressing the inward feeling of George III
toward Pitt, the greatest Whig of the century, and
the king freed himself of him in 1761, for there was
no harmony within the Whig party to combat him.
Thereupon all the methods of corruptive influence were employed, and continued to be used until
the overthrow of Lord North in I782. Trevelyan
scathingly exposes these methods of bribery - the
use of sinecures and of patronage, indulged in by
the king with the purpose of dominating Parliament and making it an instrument of his desires.
He gathered about him dependents who voted in
Parliament as he wanted. Lord Bute and the king's
Prime Minister, however, could not maintain their
majority, and resigned in I763. George Grenville
succeeded Bute and held his office until I765. Grenville, a Whig but not representing a united party,




THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION


I99


reflected the king's wishes in the enactments which
passed Parliament. The so-called Townshend Act,
which became a law in I764, was an extension of
the Navigation Acts of 1733; it exacted increased
duties on sugar and it prohibited trade with the
French colonies - in addition to other obnoxious
regulations. The man who first suggested a stamp
act as a means of defraying the expenses incurred
during the French and Indian War was Governor
Shirley of Massachusetts. Doubtless it was by his
advice that Grenville formulated the famous Stamp
Act, to which his name has always been attached.
Its passage in I765 and repeal in January, I766,
when Grenville had passed out of office, are familiar
historical facts. The will of the king was unshaken,
but he had to heed the powerful Whig demand
for Pitt, the personification of honesty. As Pitt
was unwilling to subordinate himself to the king's
wishes, the Marquis of Rockingham was chosen
Prime Minister. Thus a Whig administration came
into power, but again representing only a portion of
the party. When George III began his policy of
dividing the great Whig families, those noblemen
and gentlemen who did not choose to join the
sections headed by the Grenvilles, the Duke of
Bedford, and others, had selected as their chief the
Marquis of Rockingham. The Duke of Grafton and
General Conway were his Secretaries of State. Internal cabinet dissensions followed, and as a result
Rockingham was succeeded as Prime Minister by




200 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY


the Duke of Grafton in May, 1766. Such a struggle
of interests as there was in England at this time
could not give strength to any government, and
George III was keen enough to see his opportunity.
There was a popular desire in England that America
should be taxed and the king became its leading
advocate. He and his government derived much
strength from their attitude on taxation, thoroughly honest in this as they undoubtedly were in
all their other mistakes.
With taxation the paramount issue, Lord North
became Prime Minister in I770. He and Bute were
professedly the king's servants, and North was the
king's equal in strategy. The strongholds of the
Whigs were attacked and they soon capitulated.
One member of this ministry, Charles Fox, stood
out for a liberal policy, and he was at once dismissed. With the entry of North to office, an administration began which lasted until 1782, nearly
the entire period of the American Revolution.
It would be a long story to narrate the important
happenings and political changes during this period.
Trevelyan in his 'Revolution and George III'
vividly pictures the methods employed by the king
to have his wishes recognized by Parliament. He
controlled, both body and soul, a sufficient number
of members through various means to give him absolute domination. Press subsidies and numerous
similar means were used to control public opinion.
Much of this was successful because of the hoteless




THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION


20I


divisions in the Whig party, while the consolidated
Tories were in harmony with the king, whose policy
gave them a taste of power, for the first time in
many years.
Lord North's administration was one long period
of absolute control by the king, but to the credit of
the Prime Minister, it must be said that he asked
the king to accept his resignation after the defeat of
Burgoyne. Living in the midst of corruption, North
has never been accused of dishonesty. But Rigby,
his Paymaster of the Forces, "with his arms up to
his elbows in a heap of Treasury gold," will have
a place forever in the history of dishonesty. For
inefficiency in office, Lord George Germain has
an equally unenviable reputation. The irresistible
agitation for reform and for economy began in I780,
and North resigned in I782, after the surrender of
Cornwallis.
The king offered the Earl of Shelburne an opportunity to form a ministry, but he rejected it, owing
to divisions in his own party. The Marquis of
Rockingham was then called upon, and for the
second time he organized a cabinet of pure old
Whigs, disciples of the Earl of Chatham, with the
support of Shelburne, Portland, Fox, and Burke.
Shelburne became Secretary of State for the Colonies, with Charles Fox as Secretary for Foreign
Affairs. The reduction of expenses and the suppression of political sinecures were the first projects
of this new ministry, and it supported the demand




202  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
for negotiations for peace with America. As soon
as these negotiations were started, quarrels began
at once between Shelburne and Fox as to whose
should be the directing voice. These dissensions
grew into enmity. In the midst of it all, Rockingham died.
The selection of Shelburne by the king, at this
time, as Rockingham's successor is of particular
interest in the present connection, because of the
fact that this Library possesses many of his manuscripts. The appointment of Shelburne gave great
offence to Charles Fox and to some of the other
former followers of Rockingham. Nevertheless he
formed his ministry, with William Pitt, the leader
of the House of Commons, as his Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and including Grafton and Thurlow.
From the period of the Stamp Act to the time of
the peace negotiations, English trade and commerce
with the colonists suffered severely. The self-denying measures of the colonists were not without
serious effect. Taxation increased steadily, and the
wails of the tradesmen, exporters and manufacturers, as well as of the unemployed, were strong
and more and more insistent. In 1782 the notoriously corrupt influences at work for the support
of a now unpopular war, and the distress of trade,
led to demands for a change which even the king
could not ignore. Early in 1783 the terms of peace
were under discussion. In these Shelburne's was
the guiding mind. The negotiations were carried




THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION


203


through, as were proposals for the reduction of expenses, both of which annoyed the king. The peace
negotiations were nearly completed under Shelburne, before he resigned in February, I783, to be
succeeded by the Coalition Ministry, made up of
Portland, Fox, North, and Cavendish, which in its
turn survived but a few months.
Under such chaotic party conditions, we might
surmise what the controversial pamphlets are. Of
all kinds - pro- or anti-colonial or pro-English in
sympathy - written in support of or in criticism
of the actions of party leaders in Parliament and
dealing with the many vital questions of the day.
Such support or criticism was often expressed in a
'Letter,' a 'Reply,' or 'Thoughts' addressed to the
victim. The 'Letters' addressed to Pitt, Bute,
Rockingham, Grafton, North, Shelburne, Burke,
and Fox, number more than a hundred. The vast
extent of this literature may be appreciated when
it is stated that the Library contains at least two
thousand titles, written from the English viewpoint
of the questions, including the various editions and
issues, but not including the reprints of the American pamphlets.




Chapter XVI
PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION
WTHERE are many reasons for dwelling at length
upon what is probably the strongest section of
the Library. On the subject of the causes leading
to the Revolution, the conflict itself, including all
the military phases of it, the peace negotiations,
and finally the claims of the Loyalists and the
counter-claims of the colonists, not less than thirtyfive hundred entries -chiefly bound pamphlets of
contemporary date -are available for our examination. Possibly at that time pamphleteering was
at its highest tide. It must not be inferred, however,
that the newspaper article was not coming into
vogue, and this should likewise be considered. Both
forms of writing were characteristic of the time.
John Adams's four important articles on the
Stamp Act were originally published in the Boston
Gazette in August, I765, and his 'Novanglus,' a reply to 'Massachusettensis,' appeared in the Boston
Gazette during January and April, I775. The New
London Gazette in September, I765, published the
important dissertation of Stephen Johnson. The
'Pretty Story' of Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey,
which Tyler describes as a "neat and telling bit of
work," was distributed like a handbill to the mem

204




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION          205
bers of the first Continental Congress, as they
passed the door of Carpenters' Hall. The Loyalists
also used the newspapers freely to set forth their
side of the question, and the Library has many of
the papers containing these contributions.
The printing presses of the colonies were hard at
work. There were few which did not contribute
liberally to the large number of American imprints
which are to-day eagerly sought for by the important libraries and by collectors. Many of the original American editions of the patriot pamphlets are
as rare as the source books of the Discovery and
Colonial periods, probably because of the small editions printed and of carelessness in preservation.
The essays of Stephen Hopkins, Governor of Rhode
Island, and the replies of Martin Howard of Newport are very rare. In fact, these so-called "Halifax Gentleman" pamphlets are in few libraries in
their original printing. Even Otis's reply to the
"Halifax Libel," popular as it was, is now represented by but nine copies on record.
It is fortunate, indeed, that the major portion
of these pamphlets written by the argumentative
American Whigs, or by their Loyalist adversaries,
passed through several editions, and were reprinted
in England. The Library has upon its shelves the
original issues of many of them, and when these
scarce editions are lacking, then the later, but still
contemporary, printings published in England or
in newspaper columns.




206  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
It would be tedious to mention here all the titles
of the pamphlets of Oxenbridge Thatcher, Stephen
Hopkins, John and Samuel Adams, Stephen Johnson, Francis Hopkinson, John Dickinson, Arthur
Lee, Josiah Quincy, Richard Wells, Charles Lee,
William Henry Drayton, William Livingston,
Charles Chauncey, Samuel Cooper, and the satiriical writings of Philip Freneau and John Trumbull,
which served their purpose quite as effectively as
the more serious arguments. They are all represented in the Library, as well as the effusions of
those who wrote and sometimes fought and bled for
their opinions on the other side. Such men were
Martin Howard, Daniel Dulany, Daniel Leonard,
Joseph Galloway, Samuel Seabury, Jonathan Boucher, Jonathan Odell, the turncoat Jacob Duche,
Myles Cooper, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler,
who had equal notoriety for his advocacy of the
Anglican Episcopate.
The details of passing events during the long life
of John Adams are told in his letters to his wife
and in her equally famous letters to him. We are
not left in doubt of the efficacious work of Benjamin Franklin, his abilities and disabilities. His
dislike and distrust of Thomas Paine were probably
fully justified. Yet it may be said that no two men
working with their pens did more toward the success of the colonists than Adams and Paine. The
cool, reasoning statements of Adams are in strong
contrast to Paine's fiery, volatile, but wonderfully




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION 207
clear presentation of facts, as he set forth the
cause of the colonists and the tyranny of England,
his native country. As Mayhew's 'Unlimited Submission' and Otis's 'The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved' were the first declaration of these rights, so it is equally true that Paine's
'Common Sense,' published in January, I776, was
the first undisguised utterance boldly demanding
independence. Much has been written to prove
that prior to its appearance, and the electrifying
effects of its reading throughout the colonies, few or
none of the Whig leaders had suggested separation
from the mother country. Certainly no one wrote
that he concurred in the thought. That Paine and
his writings wielded an immense influence is undoubted. Of his numerous essays, some passing
through as many as eight editions before I8oo, the
Library has no less than two hundred different
issues.
In Tyler's opinion, the "Farmer" letters of John
Dickinson were equalled in literary merit byl-no
other serious political essays of the period. Samuel Seabury, later the first bishop of the American
Episcopal Church, who wrote under the name of
the "Westchester Farmer," and his controversy
with Alexander Hamilton, have more than ordinary
interest. I have before me his first work, 'Free
Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental
Congress, held at Philadelphia, September 5, I774,'
which first appeared in November, I774. Twelve




208  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
days thereafter another equally fiery and powerful
essay appeared: 'The Congress Canvassed, or An
Examination into the Conduct of the Delegates at
their Grand Convention, held in Philadelphia.'
The first pamphlet produced great commotion
among the Whigs, and answers came from all quarters. Our interest, however, is in one reply made by
a then unknown writer, which is before me in the
form of a sewed, foxed pamphlet of thirty-five
pages, printed by James Rivington, New York,
I774. Its title is 'A Full Vindication of the Measures of the Congress, from the, Calumnies of their
Enemies,' and it is signed, "A Friend to America."
The writer's name, then concealed, we now know
to be Alexander Hamilton, "the marvellous boy"
then but seventeen years of age. The other pamphlets of Seabury are here in their first issues, and it
may be said of them and of Seabury that in later
years full justice has been done his writings, and
when he "laid down his office with his life, a multitude of persons who formerly hated him, had come
to pay him honor, as one of a sort of men always
likely to be much needed in this part of the world -
men who, for a cause they believe to be right, are
capable of sacrificing public favor, private comfort
and even life itself."
'The Crisis' was a title used for several of these
pamphlets, the one most commonly known being an
effusion of Thomas Paine. But collec~tors meet frequently with parts of another series of essays with




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION         209
this title, evidently from the same original but by
different American printers. Paul Leicester Ford
found the original to be an English publication, a
weekly paper, modeled upon 'The North Briton,'
issued in small folio, and each issue containing from
four to eight pages. I quote from Ford: "What
makes this periodical remarkable, and of particular
interest to American collectors, is its bold advocacy
of the cause of the colonies, even after they declared their independence, and its unmeasured
abuse of those who favored the subjection of
America." Twenty-eight numbers were issued before it was suppressed by the English government.
In audacious expressions against the king and those
who desired the subjection of the colonists, it is unsurpassed. A file of this serial, complete, as in the
Library, is a rarity. The publication of it in England, probably at the expense of ardent colonial
sympathizers either in France or America, is an
early example of aggressive propaganda for a
cause.
The first work of Moses Coit Tyler, 'The History
of American Literature,' which was written at Ann
Arbor, is not exceeded in value to the bibliographer
and student by any other publication on the subject. The contributions of our first American writers are critically examined and adequately weighed.
From his greater work, 'The Literary History of
the American Revolution,' we receive inspiration
through his keen exposition of the host of patriotic




210  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
writers whose work he discusses. From him we
learn to respect, and are often led to an agreement
with, the views of the Loyalists.
There is no Tyler to guide us through the mass of
pamphlets printed in England during this time, and
only a study of the party leaders clarifies the situation. In general, it may be stated that there were
many members of the Whig party who were in partial sympathy with the colonists, and who were
bold enough to attach their names to their contributions. Of these the following are representive: the Earl of Abingdon, supporter of Edmund
Burke, Charles James Fox, Caleb Evans, strong
opponent of Wesley, Bryan Edwards, Thomas Day,
Thomas Pownall, James Callander, John Cartwright. To these should be added a host of anonymous writers who, under the titles of 'Thoughts,'
'Letters,' 'Examinations,' etc., 'of the present situation,' argued in general for the cause of the colonists.
Particularly influential for their support of the
Earl of Shelburne, criticizing severely Lord North's
administration, were the 'Letters of Junius.' These
excited so much interest during many years that no
less than twenty-five volumes are in the Library
discussing the identity of the mysterious author,
now believed to have been Sir Philip Francis. No
writer of the time was more feared for his caustic
criticisms.
Representative of the writings of those who were




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION 211


in sympathy with the king and ministry are tracts
from the pens of former Governor Francis Bernard,
Soame Jenyns, George Grenville, Richard Price,
William Bollan, Nathaniel Buckington, an admirer
of North, John Gray, and Thomas Hutchinson, the
ablest of them all except Dr. Samuel Johnson,
whose 'Taxation no Tyranny' was written to reciprocate a kingly favor. The pamphlets in defence
of General John Burgoyne were clear expositions of
Lord George Germain's incompetency. Those of
Sir William Howe, explaining his military career,
showed that his sympathies were half with the socalled rebels. Those on behalf of Sir Henry Clinton
are unsatisfactory to the military critic as an explanation of his fatal stay in New York while
Cornwallis was in trouble; but the voluminous contributions of Earl Cornwallis to the history of the
Yorktown Campaign, disastrous for him and his
country, altogether prove him a wise and a brave
man, but another victim of Germain's incapacity.
His career in India at a later period also confirms
this.
John Wesley desired to assist his king and wrote
'A Calm Address,' with the result that some very
severe rejoinders were made to it. One of these,
'An Old Fox tarred and feathered,' by A. M. Toplady, deserves particular mention, as it shows the
bitterness with which disputes were carried on at
that time. Toplady, the author of that saintly
hymn, 'Rock of Ages,' begins thus: "I will liken




2I2  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
him [John Wesley] unto a low and puny tadpole in
Divinity," and continues with similar abuse. The
pamphlets in the Library written against Wesley
or in defence of his 'Calm Address' number not
less than twenty.
For reprints of many of the important controversial contributions mentioned in this chapter, we
turn to the'Remembrancer,' of which the Library
has a complete set. It is one of the chief and most
reliable sources of information on the Revolution.
John Almon, the publisher, stated that his plan was
"To select from all the public prints, the best account of every material public event." He did this,
with the assistance of Thomas Pownall, so well,
that the nineteen volumes making a complete set
are a mine of information containing most, if not
all, the authentic papers, whether published in
England or in America, by direction of the British,
Ministry or of the American Congress. The 'Remembrancer' itself appeared from I775 to I784 in
seventeen volumes. The volume of the so-called
'Prior Documents,' printed in I777, was intended
to precede the first volume of the 'Remembrancer,'
and contains authentic papers on the questions in
dispute from 1764 to April I9, I775. The nineteenth volume, published in I778, contains the
'Journal of Congress' for I775-76.
The formal declaration of war by England
against France, after the latter's open alliance with
the American colonies, caused the writing of many




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION          213
French books on this subject. The Library has a
good collection of these books and pamphlets, sufficient for a proper understanding of the French
viewpoint. Only one important work will be mentioned: 'Lettres historiques, politiques et critiques
sur les evenements qui se sont passes depuis 1778
jusqu'a present,' Londres, 1788-94, in seventeen
volumes. The work of Henri Doniol: 'Histoire de la
participation de la France & l'etablissement des
Rltats-Unis d'Amerique,' Paris, 1886-92, five volumes, is a comprehensive compilation of source material to the time of the preliminary articles of peace
in 1782.
Upon the declaration of war by Holland against
England many books and pamphlets were written,
setting forth the grievances of the Dutch on account of the maritime policy of the British. For a
study of this phase of the situation, the Library has
upon its shelves some five hundred pamphlets and
books of contemporary printing, in the Dutch
language.
The manuscript material in the Library is extensive and important. Before the acquisition of the
Shelburne Papers, there were several fragmentary
lots that are interesting in themselves and sufficient
to verify certain events treated in the printed material. Among these was a somewhat extensive
collection of the letters of Charles Townshend, who
until his death in 1767 held important political




214 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
positions. These letters are personal and political,
as are also the later letters of Thomas Townshend,
Viscount Sydney, who toward the end of the Revolution held various state offices. Many of these
passed between Lord Shelburne and himself.
The manuscripts of Benjamin Franklin, scientific, literary, and political, are so numerous and
widespread in location that we have no accurate
summary of them. The Library has, in the Shelburne Papers, some of his political writings dated
from France. His friendship for and confidence in
Joseph Galloway are shown in a series of twentyone lengthy letters written from London during the
preliminary period of violent discussion, I763-74.
Soon after writing the last letter in this series,
Franklin departed for Paris, and Galloway in I776
sought refuge within the British lines. These letters
were secured for the Library in I92o, and seem to
have escaped the compilers Bigelow and Smyth in
their surveys of Franklin's correspondence.
Probably the most extensive collection of manuscript material in the United States written from
the English point of view, is the Shelburne Papers
which I acquired in I920. The number of volumes
in this lot is about two hundred and twenty. By far
the greater part refer to colonial affairs and a considerable portion to the Revolution. No accurate
calendar of the contents has as yet been made.
Lord Fitzmaurice states that in i872, when the
manuscripts were at Lansdowne House, he com



PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION 2I 5
menced a report for the English Historical Manuscripts Commission, which later appeared in the
Commission's Third, Fifth, and Sixth reports.
In the admirable and comprehensive 'Life of
Lord Shelburne,' by Lord Fitzmaurice, of which a
new and revised edition in two volumes appeared in
i9I2, many of these papers were used. Shelburne's
political career began in I76i, and for a period of
over twenty years he held many high offices of state.
Under Grenville he was President of the Board of
Trade and Plantations; Secretary of State under
Pitt, in I766 —67; in the second Rockingham ministry, Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Upon Rockingham's death, he formed his own cabinet in 1782.
The Shelburne, or Lansdowne, manuscripts are
a mixture of original letters, reports, documents,
treaties, and synopses of Shelburne's speeches, with
copies of important letters relating to the above;
also abstracts and original reports from the colonial
governors sent to him as President of the Board of
Trade. The transcriptions, evidently from public
records, go back in the history of the colonies to the
seventeenth century, and were probably made for
investigating trade and economic relations. Reports on Indian affairs throughout the colonies are
included in several volumes, numbering probably
two thousand pages. Among them are reports from
Sir William Johnson and his deputies.
Papers relative to Canada occupy several volumes, with many letters from Sir Guy Carleton,




216  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
then acting Governor. Future plans for Canada are
considered, and the papers reflect conditions then
existing. Two ponderous volumes of twelve hundred pages labelled 'Assiento Papers' offer a field
for study and investigation of the early slave trade
in America.
The section, however, of most interest to the
student of the Revolution is the 'Treaty Papers,'
nearly all of which are original letters leading up to
the peace negotiations and the treaty, written during 1782 and I783. The correspondence between
Lord Shelburne and Richard Oswald, the English
representative, who was an intermediary between
the British Ministry and Franklin, Jay, and Adams,
the colonial representatives in Paris, occupies some
four volumes. The many letters of Alleyne Fitzherbert, acting in a similar capacity to Oswald, are elucidating. These, with the replies from Franklin and
Laurens, together with other addresses written by
Franklin for the Commissioners, will always remain
interesting and important materials for American
history. As promptly as possible a calendar of
these papers will be made and published by the
Library.
Much about Lord Shelburne might be written
here. These letters of his seem to bring him back in
person, and it will be found in the future that the
placing of them at the University of Michigan will
surely lead to the discovery of new facts, new links
between the printed pamphlets of the time, and new




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION         217
deductions and interpretations about events from
I760 to I783. To the writer a new and great interest has been created in Lord Shelburne through
the possession and examination of these manuscripts, and through Lord Fitzmaurice's 'Life of
Lord Shelburne.'
No mention need be made here in detail of the
many general histories of the Revolution, written
during and immediately following the war. Of
value for their confirmation of facts, these were
mostly written with strong partisan feeling. The
Library has many of them. In general they record
chiefly military phases of the war. Allied with them
for an accurate and detailed history of the military
and naval operations, there has been secured for
the Library the Henry Stevens Collection of Maps,
nearly all published by Faden, the successor of
Jefferys, the early English map-maker. This collection, added to what was already in the Library,
makes available for examination not less than one
hundred and sixty maps of battles on land and sea,
and of the various movements of troops during
the many campaigns. Included in the above are
nine states of the famous Mitchell Map, dated
from I755 to I774. This map was used in 1783
in determining the boundary lines, over which so
many disputes occurred later. In connection with
these later disputes, the Library acquired from the
heirs of Lord Ashburton the minutes of tlie sessions




2I8  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
of the British'. Commissioners held in I842, in ten
volumes "privately printed but not published."
No better lot of maps of the Revolution is available
in any American library.
The ending of the Revolution brought fresh
problems incidental to the formation of a new central government, as well as plans for the government of the individual states. The calling of state
conventions for the adoption of new constitutions
as a result of the Declaration of Independence, and
the proceedings of these conventions, led to the
writing of a considerable number of brochures and
broadsides, which are important in the history of
the individual states. The Library has many of
these. The conventions of state delegates, called for
the adoption of our national Constitution, were the
occasion for the series of able essays by Madison,
Hamilton, and Jay, printed in I788 with the title
'The Federalist.' These, with the debates, form a
group of great interest. For this phase of our history, the Library has in its original boards the copy
of the first edition of 'The Federalist' which belonged to Robert Livingston, delegate from New
York. For the student interested in succeeding
editions, there is a collection of forty-eight, in many
languages and with many commentators, issued
from I788 to I89o. This collection was the work of
James W. Bell, of Brooklyn, a lawyer of prominence.




PAMPHLETEERS OF THE REVOLUTION 2 I 9
In concluding this synopsis, the writer realizes
his inadequate treatment of the subjects of the several chapter headings. Proper consideration calls
for an intensive study of each of these. But our
country's history through three centuries is partly
told when an exposition is made of her source materials. And when, in the formation of a library and
in the enumeration and appraisal of those writers
whose work is great and outstanding, a misjudgment is made, then it is the fault of the collector.
He may frequently be in error, for his experience
has not been that of an historical writer, whose
views and conclusions are formed from continued
examinations. However, this book is an effort
which is subject to all manner of corrections and
criticisms. At least a beginning has been made of
grouping and sometimes commenting upon books,
which may serve a beneficial purpose by inviting
further study.




Chapter XVII
NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES
By WILLIAM WARNER BISHOP, Librarian of the General
Library, University of Michigan
AT  HE newspapers in the William L. Clements
Library have been gathered mainly from the
duplicate collections of the American Antiquarian
Society at Worcester and of the Massachusetts Historical Society at Boston. In the summer of I9I8
the entire duplicate newspaper collection of the
American Antiquarian Society was purchased as a
lot and the papers were sorted, collated, briefly catalogued and (in part) bound. A similar (but smaller)
purchase was made from the same source in I92I.
This consignment remains in the cases awaiting
treatment.
In the spring of I920, the Massachusetts Historical Society's collection of duplicate American newspapers of the eighteenth century was offered for
sale, and all the numbers not then in the Library
were purchased. Both purchases have been frequently supplemented, as opportunity has arisen
to secure individual numbers or entire volumes. In
a surprising number of instances, it has been possible to complete defective volumes and sets.
220




NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES


22I


The sources from which the greater part of the
newspapers have been received naturallypresuppose
a dominant representation of New England and Atlantic seaboard newspapers. In fact, the collection
is drawn from other sections only in the most casual
fashion. For New England, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington the newspaper collections
thus gathered and augmented have a very decided
value. Massachusetts newspapers naturally are
more numerous than those from any other state,
and Boston supplies the major part of these.
The eighteenth-century papers form a small but
important group. They are somewhat scattered in
both origin and continuity before 1780, and are naturally most numerous for the last two decades of
the century. One hundred and nineteen different
eighteenth-century newspapers are found on the list,
but of only a few are fairly long and complete files
included. The most complete are the Boston Evening Post, with scattering numbers from 1736 to
1764, and much fuller files from 1765 to I779; the
Columbian Centinel (rather defective) from 1785 to
800o; the Boston Gazette, from I749 to 1798 (very
defective in the earlier and later years, but full from
1765 to 1774); the (New York) Independent Journal
of 1786 and 1787; the New York Daily Advertiser,
1788 and 1789; the Herald (New York) from I795
to 1797; the Spectator (New York) from I797 to
800o; the Gazette of the United States (I789-1799),
and the Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg) I745-I746.




222  WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
Continuity and completeness in eighteenth-century newspapers come only with decades of watchful and patient waiting. Economic conditions are
well reflected even by scattering numbers, and it is
as a revelation of the domestic, business, and political life of the times that a collection even of a
much more sporadic character would have value.
The second lot from the American Antiquarian
Society contains a number of eighteenth-century
newspapers as yet uncatalogued, but evidently supplementing the present collection in good measure.
After I8oi the chief interests are two-fold: first
the large number of early nineteenth-century papers from New England, and second the long runs
from certain localities. Of these last, Providence is
by far the most conspicuous, through files of the
Providence Yournal, the Rhode Island American, the
Manufacturers' and Farmers' ]ournal, the Providence Evening Press, the Morning Star, the Rhode
Island Press, the Columbian Phoenix, the Providence Daily Post, which between them cover most
years of the nineteenth century. The eighteenthcentury papers printed in Providence are likewise
fairly numerous. Concord, N. H., is also quite well
covered by various files, while there are numerous
volumes from the smaller cities in the state. Portsmouth is also well represented, beginning with a
very incomplete file of the New Hampshire Gazette
consisting of scattered numbers from 1765 to I799,
and less defective volumes to I825, thence almost




NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES         223
complete until 1848. The Portsmouth 7ournal of
Literature and Politics runs with but few gaps from
1822 to 1865, thence with less fullness to I900.
The newspapers from New York City are naturally of especial interest, but are rather disappointing in number and completeness, only the Herald,
Times, Tribune, and World being somewhat continuous for many years. There are a number of weekly
papers, chiefly those published by various religious
bodies, among which the Christian Inquirer (I848 -1877) and the Independent (185I-I897) are the
most important. The Shipping and Commercial
Lists from 1830 to 1854 (with some gaps) is valuable
for the history of prices and business. A run of the
National Anti-Slavery Standard, nearly complete
from I849 to 1852 and from I856 to 1870, and another of the Voice from i886 to I894 reflect the extreme views of two violent reforming movements.
There is a long run of the Albion (December, 1827
to December, I855), a weekly with the sub-title,
British, Colonial and Foreign Weekly Gazette, surely
a singular witness to the persistence of British interest and tradition in the commercial metropolis.
The New York newspapers in the collection, however, do not equal the New England papers either
in number or completeness.
The Massachusetts newspapers come chiefly from
Boston, Newburyport, Salem, and Worcester, with
scattering numbers and files from a score of other
towns. The principal Boston papers are the Ameri



224   WILLIAM L. CLEMENTIS LIBRARY
can Traveller, continued as the Evening Traveller
(1825-1865); the Boston Daily.dvertiser ( a very
complete file from 1814 to 1890); the Boston Gazette,
Commercial and Political (1801-1821, lacking 1807,
and seriously defective in 1814); the Liberator
(weekly, imperfect in the earlier years, but nearly
complete from 1854 to 1865); the Columbian Centinel (I80oi-830), continuing the eighteenth-century
set; the Boston Recorder (weekly; 1818-1836).
There are numerous short runs of other Boston papers; and a considerable number of religious weeklies, including long sets of the Congregationalist, the
Christian Freeman, the Christian Leader, the Christian Watchman, Christian World, and the Trumpet
and Universalist Magazine.
The Newburyport Herald under various titles and
forms, running from 1798 to 1897, gives a long witness to local history and conditions. While by no
means all the years are well rounded out, the fortunes of one shipping and industrial town are reflected for nearly a century. For Salem the files of
various papers are less continuous and extensive,
but still valuable evidence, while the Worcester
newspapers cover a long range (I775 to I880) very
imperfectly.
The Philadelphia papers in this Library are
chiefly from the last decade of the eighteenth and
the first of the nineteenth century. The longest
runs are of the Gazette of the United States (I789 -1814, scattering numbers down to 1833); the




NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES          225
General Advertiser (I790-I800); the Independent
Gazetteer (I784-I789); the Pennsylvania Chronicle
(1767-1770); the Pennsylvania Gazette (scattering
for I775-I776, I779, almost complete, I780 and
1782) the Pennsylvania Journal (I773, and scattering numbers to 1791); the Portfolio (I80oi-805).
In addition, there are considerable files (I865-May,
I885) of the weekly Sunday Dispatch, the semiweekly National Gazette and Literary Register (I820 -1825, and imperfect from 1829 to I834).
The Washington newspapers are a rather miscellaneous lot, but they include a few important sets,
such as the National Era (weekly, 1847-I860); the
National Intelligencer (tri-weekly, rather imperfect,
I8oi-I865; daily, likewise imperfect, I816-I866,
containing many complete volumes); the tri-weekly
National Journal (1824-1831); and a very imperfect set of the daily issue of the same paper from
1825 to I830.
It is a noteworthy fact that practically the whole
collection falls in the period before wood-pulp paper
came into common use by newspaper publishers.
As a consequence the papers are likely to be durable
and worth every effort for their preservation and for
completing files. If the note of their present incompleteness seems too loud, and perhaps unduly
stressed, let it be said that no newspaper collection
can begin with complete files. As a foundation on
which to build, the present collection is most unusual and most valuable. It already affords a reflec



226 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
tion of the life of New England and the Atlantic
coast between I770 and i870. Steady work on
completing files should make it more precious and
more indispensable as the years go by.
The British newspapers of the eighteenth century
in the Library ought likewise to be mentioned.
These are of great value for their bearing on American affairs. They include the True Briton, June,
I 723 to February, I 723-I 724; the London Chronicle,
I757-I784, and the London Gazette (I750-I784,
I786, I789). The last two cover the whole period
of the French and Indian War and the American
Revolution. The London Gazette is the British official gazette, in which appears all manner of official
news, such as appointments, proclamations, decrees, reports both civil and military, and the like.
There are also scattering numbers of other British
papers.
The earlier American and British magazines are
represented with unusual fullness. Probably the
most important American set is the entire Massachusetts Magazine (I789-I796), published by the
redoubtable Isaiah Thomas, to whose activities as a
publisher and historian we owe so much. This is
one of two complete sets known, containing all the
engraved plates. It is generally regarded as the
ablest of the early American magazines. Most of
them were short-lived, and the Library contains
a very creditable number of them. Among the
British magazines of the eighteenth century may




NEWSPAPERS AND BROADSIDES


227


be named a complete set of that pattern of respectability, the Gentleman's Magazine, from its beginning in I73I through the whole of its long career.
There is also a complete set of the important Annual Register.
The collection of original newspapers has been
supplemented by bound photostat copies of some of
the earlier and rarer journals. These are the Boston
News Letter (I704-I754), the New York Gazette
(I726-I744), the Newport Mercury (I758-I776),
the Kentucky Gazette (I787-I800), and the Detroit
Gazette (I 8 I7-I 830). The last two early Western
papers were reproduced under the auspices of this
Library.
Finally, the" broadside," that eighteenth-century
forerunner of the electric sign and the newspaper
"scare-head" Extra of to-day, has not been neglected. Thanks to the photostat, a very valuable
series of copies of broadsides has been added to a
goodly number of originals, making four hundred
in all. Broadsides frequently have all the quaint
charm of chap-books, and again all the sternness of
the official placard issued in the king's name and
with the weight of royal authority. They run from
the merest handbills of goods for sale, horses - or
slaves - strayed or stolen, through election notices
to proclamations of solemn import to the whole
commonwealth. The collection shows, now the
latest news, now the latest comic song; again, the
dying confessions of a murderer, or the resolutions




228 WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY
of indignant citizens in mass-meeting assembled.
Laws were promulgated by the posted broadsides,
as were letters from General Washington just received by express, the 'Dying Groans of Levi Ames
Executed for Burglary, in October, I773,' the Act
of the General Assembly of Connecticut in I779
"for ascertaining the quantity of grain, flour and
meal in this state... for an immediate supply of
bread for the army."
The collecting and study of broadsides form one
of the fruitful and interesting by-paths of historical
investigation. They are, in the nature of things,
scarcer than most books and even exceed newspapers in rarity. Only those which escaped posting
and the wear of "handing round" have survived.
The comparatively small number mentioned above
is actually rather large and unusual. It should be
noted that the broadside collection affords most
important material for the history of journalism.
About a fifth of the collection of broadsides relates
to the American Revolution, chiefly on its legal side,
though there is much which reflects popular sentiment and which gives the news of the day. The
rest are of the most varied nature. The earliest
ones arise out of the great struggle between king
and Parliament in England, and the latest give the
news of naval combats in the War of I 8 I12. By continued use of the photostat the Library may in
time possess copies of the greater part of the important American broadsides known.












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