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DISCOURSE

DELIVEKED BEFORE THE

New-England Historic, Genealogical Society,

BOSTON, MARCH 18, 1871,

ON THE OCCASION OF THB

DEDICATION OF THE SOCIETY'S HOUSE.

Bt CHARLES H. BELL, A.M.
A MEMBER OF THB SOCIETY.

BOSTON :
NEW-ENGLAND HISTORIC, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY.
M. DCCC. LXXI.

Truth is the historian's crows, and aet
Squares it to steicter comeliness.

D. Clapp & Son, 561 Washington St., Boston.

PROCEEDINGS.

Society's Rooms, 17 Bromfield Street,
Boston, 9th November, 1870.
The Hon. Charles H. Bell,
Exeter, N. H.
Dear Sir, —
The undersigned having been appointed by the New-Eng
land Historic, Genealogical Society, a committee of arrange
ments fqr the dedication of the Society's House, to take place
probably in March next, beg to tender to you our cordial and unani
mous request that you will deliver a discourse before the Society on
that occasion.
We have the honor, dear Sir, to be
Most respectfully, Your obedient servants,
Marshall P. Wilder,
"William B. Towne,
Dorus Clarke,
Edmund F. Slafter,
George B. Upton.

Exeter, N. H., 12th November, 1870.
Gentlemen : —
I thank you for the honor you have done me, in selecting me
to deliver a discourse before the New-England Historic, Genea
logical Society:, on the interesting occasion of the dedication of

4 PROCEEDINGS.
their House, as well as for the kind and courteous terms of your
invitation. It will afford me much pleasure to comply with your request.
With the highest respect, Your obedient servant,
Charles H. Bell.
To the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, Boston, Mass.
William B. Towne, Esq., Milford, N. H.
The Eev. Dorus Clarke, D.D., Boston, Mass.
The Rev. Edmund F. Slafter, Boston, Mass.
The Hon. George B. Upton, Boston, Mass.

The Discourse was delivered in the Hall of the Society's House,
18 Somerset Street, Boston, on the afternoon of the 18th of March,
1871, the 26th anniversary of the Society's incorporation, to a
crowded assembly, members of the Society and invited guests.
The Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, the president, in calling the
meeting to order, spoke as follows ; —
Ladies and Gentlemen : —
I congratulate you upon the auspicious circumstances under
which we are assembled. One year ago this day we commemorated
with appropriate ceremonies the completion of the first quarter of a
century in the history of our association. To-day we signalize
another important epoch in our progress by the consecration of this,
our house, to the love of country, kindred and a revered ancestry.
One year ago the Society possessed no home in fee-simple. To-day
it is the sole proprietor, the owner without incumbrance, of this
beautiful edifice, purchased, remodelled and furnished by the generous
contributions of our members.
But while we rejoice in the present flourishing condition of our
Society, while we recognize with the warmest gratitude the self-
sacrificing services of those who have carried on its operations to the
present time, and especially of the noble benefactors, who have placed
in our hands, during the past year, more than forty thousand dollars
for the purchase, reconstruction and equipment of this house, let us

PROCEEDINGS. 5
not forget the gracious Providence which has crowned our efforts
with success. And in acknowledgment of this goodness, I will
call upon our associate, the Kev. Dr. Park, to give thanks in our
behalf, and to invoke the Divine benediction upon us and upon our
good work.
Prayer was then offered by Professor Edwards A. Park, D.D.,
of the Theological Seminary at Andover.
Appropriate lines were then sung by the whole assembly, led by
Samuel B. Noyes, Esq.
After the delivery of the discourse, a doxology was sung by the
assembly, and a benediction was pronounced by the Eev. James H.
Means, A.M., of Dorchester.
At the monthly meeting of the Society held April 5, 1871, Dr.
Winslow Lewis offered the following resolution, which was
adopted : —
Resolved, — That the thanks of the Society be presented to the
Hon. Charles H. Bell, for his able and interesting address de
livered on the 18th of March last on the occasion of the dedication
ofthe Society's House, and that a copy be requested for publication.

Description of the Society's House : — In the Appendix to
the Quarter-Century Discourse, published last year, will be found a
history of the Society's estate, dating back to the first settlement of
the town of Boston, prepared by the present writer and to which the
reader is referred. At that time the house, which by the services
above described has been dedicated to the interests of New-England
history, had not been re-arranged and adapted to its present use. A
few words of description may therefore be needed, especially for a
large number of dur members, who reside at a considerable distance.
The House is situated on an eligible site in Somerset street, north
east of the Capitol, on the declivity of Beacon hill. Its location is
near the valuable Library of the Boston Athenaeum, the State Library

b PROCEEDINGS.
at the State House, the Record Office for deeds and wills of Suffolk
county, and the City Hall. It was erected in 1805 for a dwelling-
house, and was so used until it was purchased by the Society on
the 12th of March, 1870. It is constructed of brick, strongly built,
four stories in height by the original arrangement of flats, having a
front of twenty-nine feet and five or six inches, and a depth of forty-
two feet and a fraction over, with an extension in the rear of about
twenty-one or two by a little over thirteen feet. The front is faced
with a composition known as "concrete stone"; it is made in blocks,
and resembles a grayish sandstone, while the heavy caps ofthe win
dows and doors, and other trimmings, are of sandstone from Nova
Scotia. Over the entrance is inscribed : —
New-England Historic, Genealogical Society.
There are three rooms on the first floor ; the one in front is oc
cupied at present as a reception-room, where members of the Society
may meet for consultation and general conversation ; in the rear of
this is the Directors' Room, where they hold their monthly meetings
and where the officers prepare their correspondence. It is furnished
with desks, cases, and drawers for their convenience. These two
rooms have white marble fire-places, with grates for open fires. The
extension, nineteen and a half by eleven feet in the clear, is con
structed into a Fire-proof Room. It has double walls of brick; the
floor and ceiling are also of brick and cement arched upon iron
girders of great strength, capable of resisting falling walls or timbers
in case of fire. It is furnished with shelves and a hundred and
twenty-one drawers for receiving the rare books and manuscripts
belonging to the Society.
On the second floor there are also three rooms ; one over the en
trance hall, and another over the Fire-proof Room, both used for the
reception and arrangement of books and pamphlets ; the third has
an area of forty by twenty feet, and contains that part of the library
which is in most constant use. The entire walls are lined with glazed
cases of black walnut, in which the books are protected from dust.
It is furnished with tables and desks for the convenience of those who
may resort to the library for historical investigation. This room is
known as the Library.

PROCEEDINGS. 7
The third and fourth stories of the original structure are thrown
into one, and the whole area is occupied as a hall for the public
meetings of the Society. It is agreeably lighted from the roof and
by windows in the front and in the rear. A gallery, approached by
an iron stairway, extends around the entire hall. The walls above
the gallery are lined throughout with shelves, which are filled with
books less frequently called for. A dais rises at the east end of the
hall, which is occupied on public occasions by the president and
other officers of the Society, and the readers of historical papers.
The cellar is dry and commodious for storage, and contains a large
furnace from which heat is conveyed to every part of the building.
All the rooms throughoutt the house are furnished with gas-fixtures
and chandeliers, by which abundant light is furnished whenever it is
needed for reading or writing. The cost of the property, including
the reconstruction of the house and its adaptation to the purposes
of the Society, has been over eorty-three thousand dollars,
as will more exactly appear by the report of the treasurer hereafter
to be made.

DISCOURSE.

The philosophical inquirer who observes in every quarter of our
broad land a considerable class of persons, of all grades of education
and position, giving no small part of their lives to the rescue and pre
servation of the memorials of the past, cannot fail to ask what common
bond of interest unites in similar pursuits those who are in all else so
dissimilar. How comes it that the study of other times affords grati
fication alike to unlettered antiquary and- accomplished historical
scholar ; to the pitiful relic-hunter who gloats in private over his
hoards, and the princely collector who holds his wondrous accumula
tions only in trust, for the world's enjoyment? What spell has power
to touch a responsive chord in natures so world-wide asunder ? The
answer is not doubtful. It is no mere fondness for things which are
ancient ; for the most veritable piece of antiquity, without a story or
association, would be powerless to awaken their interest. But it is
the desire, common to each of them, to secure from decay visible tokens
of the men and times that have passed away, to keep alive their me
mory, and so to provide materials which will contribute to the com
pleteness of our country's archives.
The Future of American History, the incentive and the ultimate
goal of the combined antiquarian effort so widely discernible among
our people, will be the subject of my remarks on this occasion.
It has been so confidently asserted, and so often repeated, by for
eign critics, that a taste for the pursuit of historical and antiquarian
learning would never take kindly root in the soil of our republic,
that unreflecting persons have been inclined to accept the statement
as true. It is argued, with plausibility, that as no important designs
for the illustration and perpetuation of the memory of great men and
2

10

DISCOURSE.

momentous events can be successfully undertaken among foreign na
tions without the direction and patronage of a class sprung from a
distinguished ancestry, accustomed to opulence, and of the refined
tastes wliich grow out of a life of leisure and liberal culture, therefore
no people without a like aristocratic class can expect to produce such
works. And as a patrician order has no place in the constitution of
American society, the conclusion is inevitable that from the ranks of
our own bustling and eminently practical population, with their atten
tion sharply fixed on the affairs of the present and future, in contra
distinction from those of the past time, no cordial interest or efficient
support is to be expected in behalf of historical enterprises of a quality
that should entitle them to rank with masterpieces.
But a survey of the rapid progress which the studies of history and
archaeology have made in the estimation of our people, within the
memory of men in middle life, and of their prevalence at the present
day, will satisfy the candid inquirer that no parallel can-be drawn, in
that respect, between our own and foreign countries.
Only a single generation ago , when the seeds were beginning to
germinate which have since sprung up and borne much fruit in the
establishment and maintenance of this Society, the number of persons
in the community who were willing to be thought specially addicted
to the study of American history, was exceedingly small, and con
sisted almost exclusively of gentlemen advanced in life, and who
had already acquired a certain position in letters or professional em
ployment. He who had not yet made his mark in some reputable
calling, could hardly venture to hold himself out as a delver in the
rubbish of antiquity, without incurring the risk of failure in more
practical pursuits. For though it was not thought absolutely infra
dig. for one who had achieved his fortune to cultivate antiquarian
tastes, yet a young man, with a complement of limbs, who should
have had the temerity, in those days, to choose historical authorship
as his sole dependence for bread and fame, would have been looked
upon, generally, with compassion if not with contempt.
But since that time how complete a revolution in the popular sen
timent has been effected. Many ofthe most diligent, prominent and
accomplished historical scholars in the land are among our active men
of business. They have ceased to feel reluctant to have the direction
of their studies publicly known ; for to be a student, even of antiqui-

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 11
ties, no longer has power to affect a man's standing on Change. The
populace may still wonder at the delight with which the antiquary
welcomes the addition of a dingy tract to his cherished stores, or at
the enthusiasm, not to say warmth, which is sometimes imparted to
the discussion of a topic gray with the moss of centuries : but there
is no sneer in the wonder. The whole subject has grown into respect.
To-day the historian and archaeologist have their assured places in the
republic of letters ; and to engage in authorship in those departments,
as a profession, is no more precarious than is a position in a counting-
room or a bank.
There is scarcely a more crucial test of the popularity of a propo
sition, in the United States, than the attempt to appropriate the pub
lic money in support of it. The sturdy tax-payers will not patiently
submit to the expenditure of their contributions to the treasury for
purposes that do not meet their approval. And this feeling is too
well understood by the representative bodies of the people to permit
them to jeopard their popularity by trying such experiments. If it
is whispered that the rule has sometimes an exception, when motives
are brought to bear upon honorable members, sufficient to outweigh
their dread of their constituents' displeasure, still there is one class
of measures which it would be absurd to beheve are carried by undue
influences ; for who ever heard of a lobby in the interest of history ?
The historical publications issued under the authority of the Con
gress ofthe United States, some of which are costly, elaborate and
of the highest value, constitute incontestable proof that the great
body of the people have a growing respect and desire for that species
of knowledge. Of the numerous works of this character, it is only
necessary to mention one, which, though incomplete in its printed
form, is yet a perfect mine of information respecting the period of the
American Revolution which it covers. I refer to Force's American
Archives ; and it is matter of real regret that, as the nation is now
in possession of the remaining volumes of the series, in manuscript,
Congress has not yet seen fit to order them printed. I think it is
safe to say that the people would not be dissatisfied with the outlay
necessary to complete the great national work, and would even prefer
those volumes to the class of hermetically closed quartoes, the publica
tion of which, by some law of unnatural selection, seems fastened,
barnacle-like, for all time upon the public treasury.

12

DISCOURSE.

In like manner the increased interest of the people of our country
in historical learning, is evidenced by the compilation and publication
by several of the States, of their official records and documents. In
most instances the design has been carried out under the direction of
competent and learned editors, and in a very thorough and liberal
style, involving of course no inconsiderable pecuniary expense. The
people, in some instances, might have been pardoned ifthey had re
garded the burden as too onerous ; and the fact that they bore it
unmurmuringly indicates how general is the appreciation, of the im
portance of saving from decay the authentic memorials of the past.
But perhaps the most striking act of legislation in aid of historical
enterprises, is that which has recently been adopted in some of the
States of New-England, by which cities and towns are empowered
to raise and apply money to the preparation and publication of their
corporate histories. These municipalities, in the theory of our
government, have the authority to lay taxes for the defrayment of
their necessary expenses, only. They have no power to compel their
citizens to contribute to any objects of taste or sentiment. The new
law therefore places town-histories on the footing of necessaries —
things indispensable to the public welfare. No more unmistakable
acknowledgment and recognition of the popular appreciation and
demand for historical information can be imagined.1
For many years past, associations organized for the promotion of
the knowledge of our country's history and antiquities, have been
in existence. In their earlier form they maintained a high degree of
respectability, both in the character of their members and of their
productions. Yet it cannot be denied that they signally lacked zeal,
energy and the faculty of awakening interest. The consequence was
that they remained nearly stationary in point of numbers, their re
sources were cramped, and their influence upon the outer world was
extremely limited. Of late years the associations for such purposes
have usually been conducted upon different principles. The object
has been not to make eminence and a life time of labor conditions of
membership, but to awaken an interest in the objects of the associa
tions in those who move the wheels of society ; not to establish a
veteran-reserve corps, but to organize a battalion for the field.
1 I am informed that the credit of framing and introducing this important and useful
law, is due to our venerable associate, John H. Sheppard, Esq., while a resident of the
State of Maine.

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 13
The feasibility, and the need, of arousing the interest and sympathy
of a great number of men, in the active pursuits of life, in behalf of
the objects of historical and antiquarian societies, is becoming gene
rally conceded. It has been learned that the chronic belief that no
considerable portion of the community could be induced to care for
the affairs of the past age, is untenable. Men of not the highest
literary acquirements are found not unfrequently to have a fondness
and an aptitude for the cultivation of history ; and those whose
fathers were simple yeomen are no less anxious to trace out the
branches of the family tree, than if they bore in their veins " the
blood of all the Howards."
Naturally the range of such societies has been extended and the
membership greatly increased and popularized. Zeal is the offspring
of companionship ; with added numbers a deeper interest has been
awakened and greater efforts have been made. The energy and
sagacity with which the men of business conducted their own affairs,
they have put at the service of the societies with which they are con
nected. Never were the organizations for historic purposes so thriv
ing, useful and influential as now. In point of number they have
increased fourfold in a generation ; while their members and friends
have been multiplied in a far more generous proportion.
The libraries of our country are becoming powerful auxiliaries in
the cultivation and development of the taste for historical knowledge.
A few of the more noted of them date their origin in the last centu
ry, though the greater portion are of recent formation ; the principal
growth of all of them has taken place within the last three decades
of years. At the present time in nearly every State one library, at
least, exists, devoted chiefly to history, and connected with a kindred
society. In Massachusetts there are four such collections, each of
considerable extent. Most of the States of the Union have also
state-libraries, proper, the composition of which is largely of the
same character, and some of which are of extraordinary dimensions
and value. Of other great collections which are peculiarly rich in
the same department of literature, the library of Congress, the library
company of Philadelphia, the Astor of New-York, and the Athe
naeum of Boston, are most noteworthy, by reason of their magnificent
proportions and their national consequence.

14 DISCOURSE.
Few among the private libraries of the country are ancestral.
Some of the largest and fullest in that class of works which bear
the distinctive appellation of Americana, have been formed in the
life-time of their owners. A few of the most important, like those
of Mr. Lenox, of New-York, and Mr. Brown, of Providence, are
known by description to all inquirers . But the existence of by far the
greater number, even of large and choice private collections, is never
made known to the public, except by accident. In every city and
considerable town, and I had almost said in every village and ham
let, there are persons devoting much time, energy and money to the
acquisition of books relating to general and local American history.
No man can number them. The booksellers, whose interest lies in
knowing every buyer, are forced to admit that they cannot keep pace
with the book-hunters ; but are constantly learning of new and un
suspected aggregations formed by persons unknown as well to fame
as to their fraternity.
How wide-spread and ardent is the search for the uncommon vo
lumes illustrating our country's progress, may be ascertained by a
reference to the rates at which they are sold. The extravagance of
bibliomaniacs in all countries is proverbial, but no prodigality in
Christendom has ever exceeded that of some of our fastidious book-
fanciers, in the purchase of Americana of peculiar rarity.
Only second to the taste for the collection of books, is that for the
acquisition of relics, illustrative of our earlier history. It is not
surprising that many persons are disposed to regard the mania for
" collecting," as it is termed, as puerile and ridiculous, when it is
directed to articles of no intrinsic interest or importance. But against
too sweeping a condemnation of the practice, I desire to enter an
earnest protest. The gathering and arrangement of certain classes
of memorials of by-gone generations constitute a most valuable and
indispensable aid to the study and right understanding of history.
The office ofthe antiquary has been said to be, to provide materials
for the historian : the collector gives them light and color. We
never can so fully realize past transactions, as when we behold some
tangible, material object which made a part of them. It is true, for
example, we read with horror of the pitiless scenes enacted under
the sanction of the law, during the witchcraft delusion in New-Eng
land ; but what minuteness of written description can so touch our

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 15
senses with the very presence and reality of those judicial murders,
as the sight of the yellow and tattered warrant that tells in hideous
nakedness of phrase, the death doom and fate of one of those un
fortunates ?
Of the same kind of interest and value, and only inferior in de
gree, are the autographs of noted persons, the various paper currency,
and other like memorials of the realm of the past, which are sought
for by the judicious collector. They serve to illustrate to the eye
the character of the age to which they belonged ; to photograph upon
the sensorium the times and scenes of which they were components ;
to enable us to walk the streets, to sit at the boards, and to live the
lives of departed generations.
The day has perhaps been, when there was truth in the saying
that if one could write the ballads of a nation, he need not care who
made their laws. But he who could gain the control of the American
people to-day, must have the making of their books. It would be by
then' reading that they would be ruled ; and it is by their reading that
their tastes and progress are to be measured. In the earlier stages ofthe
country, our grandfathers were content with such information respect
ing even occurrences of note, as could be conveyed in the pages of a
meagre tract. At a later period substantial volumes took their place,
but they lingered lovingly on the booksellers' shelves. Now, the
omniverous appetite of the reading public consumes everything that
is set before it, from the lean pamphlet to the portly folio. Of course
the vast book-supplies of the day consist in but small part of works
relating to our country and its history; yet the aggregate of
such works is something wonderful, nevertheless. We have book
sellers whose main business lies in American historical literature, and
publishers who make the issuing of such works a specialty. We
have numerous series of collections, and periodical publications, de
voted to the same subject, and juvenile volumes without limit, to
instruct the young concerning the notable things of their own
and other times. We exhaust one edition after another of the
productions of the present age, and form clubs to reprint those of
ages long past.
Out of these various evidences of the change which the public
sentiment in our country has undergone in a generation, it is easy
to demonstrate the present existence of the three principal conditions

16 DISCOURSE.
for the formation of a national historical literature : first, a reading
class, strong in numbers, and of intelligence equal to the under
standing and appreciation of works of such a character ; second, a
general inclination and movement, in public and private quarters, to
value, gather, preserve and effectually utilize the various materials
available for the chronicler's use ; and third, organized bodies of
avowed friends of historical investigation and progress, encouragers
of effort and study, promoters of judicious criticism, and nurseries
of authors.
There are, however, certain dangers, to which our national history
is exposed, from the very fact of the strong hold which the subject
has taken upon the popular sympathies. It is precisely when a thing
is in the greatest request, that it is most liable to deterioration.
When the appetite is keen, it is neither discriminating nor dainty,
and with the knowledge of that fact, the quality of the repast pro
vided for it will suffer accordingly. So if the public demand is so
sweeping that poor books, in default of better, will be used and
read, the fear is that few competent persons will be induced to under
take the study and toil required to reach the higher walks of letters.
The faults which are most visible in the historical productions of
America are not peculiar nor limited to our land ; they are as wide
spread and general as are the infirmities of human nature. But from
causes not difficult to discern, they are more noticeable and promi
nent in our literature than in perhaps any other.
Such is the case with the performances of a class of persons, fortu
nately few, who under the guise of historians, are mere partisan writers.
Some of them have learning, research, even genius ; but that only gives
them the greater power to mislead. They come to the investigation
of points, not with judgment on even scale, and minds open to re
ceive the impressions which the truth may give, but with conclusions
already formed, beyond all hope of change from facts or figures.
The office of these men is not to record history, but to do violence
to it; not to save, but to put to the sword. They strive to set forth
in striking lights and exaggerated proportions certain favorite per
sonages and their doings, as the leading features of the scene, and to
crowd back all others and all else into obscurity. Their labors con
sist in great part in explaining away, or controverting hostile views and
statements, and in reconciling, so far as ingenuity can compass it, the

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 17
unbending familiar truth with the incompatible hypotheses to which
they have committed themselves . If it is beyond credulity to make the
genuine and the spurious square with each other, then with the in
stinct of the cuttle-fish, these authors envelope the whole subject in
convenient obscurity. They utterly lose sight of the real mission of
the historian, to be the simple mouth-piece of truth, to lift the veil
in which every question is enshrouded, and to assign to each person
age and each event, in the drama of life, the exact degree of promi
nence, of influence, of credit or shame, to which the most careful
study and reflection would seem to entitle them.
Akin to the wilful perverters of truth, in one respect, yet far less
influential and mischievous, are those authors who have made some
notable discovery in history, which has hitherto eluded the researches
of all explorers. They have been sagacious enough to learn, for ex
ample, that one who passed for a patriot and a hero, among his con
temporaries, and whose title to the distinction was never doubted by
his biographers, was in reality a mere braggart and poltroon ; that
the glory of an achievement which excited the world's admiration, has
been unaccountably assigned to the wrong person, a shameless usurp
er of the laurel that should have twined the brows of some mute
inglorious Caesar, whose fame and name, but for this timely revela
tion, might have continued forever in oblivion.
The temptation to reform and improve history, is powerful, to
credulous persons, with a leaning toward the marvellous. It is gra
tifying to the sense of justice to unmask pretence and vindicate
unrecognized merit, even in those who have vanished from the stage
of action ; it is pleasant to be the first to clear away the obstructions to
the full understanding of motives and events, and especially to feel
that one's own ingenuity and acumen have surpassed those of all for
mer confessedly sharp-eyed investigators. It is not strange, there
fore, that novel historical discoveries, based on new and startling
views of human character and conduct, should be sometimes broached.
These win the applause ofthe groundlings, and make perhaps among
better men, a noise for a time. But the great verdict of history, upon
all questions, is made up from a survey of a thousand facts, and the
judgment of a thousand minds, each modifying, and modified by, the
rest ; and as it is not formed on fight grounds, so will it not be light
ly disturbed.

18 DISCOURSE.
The national habit of haste is likely to leave its impress all too
plainly upon some departments of our history. No sooner is the
career of a great man ended, than a race begins between a score of
facile pens for the earliest production of his "life and times." Nar
ratives of campaigns which involve the destinies of the world, are
written before the reverberations ofthe cannon have yet died away upon
the hills, or the smoke faded from the battle-fields. The outgoing min
ister of state, when he waits upon his successor to deliver up the
insignia of office, finds him perusing an account of the administration
just ended.
There is no distinction of subjects to these rapid workmen : they
will turn you out an essay on archaeology with about the same facility
as a sketch of the occurrences of the hour. A popular call for any
species of literary ware will be answered with commercial promptness
and despatch. There is no department of letters but must suffer
deeply from this slip-shod manner of composition ; but its effect upon
history is peculiarly disastrous. It is impossible to describe the
inaccuracy and ignorance, the slovenliness and utter want of method,
the confusion and lack of appreciation, consequent upon the habit of
undue haste. History is valuable only as it is accurate, and is accu
rate only through much study, attention and care. Rapidity and
correctness, in that direction, are simply incompatible.
The same class of writers who produce the maximum of volumes
on the minimum of study and reflection, perhaps by way of atoning
in their manner for the poverty of their master, have introduced a
style of composition wliich challenges attention by its flippancy and
pretence. Not content with the well of English of our fathers, they
must needs eke out its waters with the wine of France and the puddle
of modern slang ; they delight in words strained out of all recognition
in their use, and in sounding polysyllables which ill perform the
office of the brief Saxon speech ; while so stilted is their phraseology
and so distorted the members of their sentences, that old-fashioned
readers become really uneasy at the display of verbal gymnastics.
If there is any form and use of language which is especially ap
propriate to historical narration, it is the simplest. It should be a
plain unvarnished tale ; therein only are true dignity and eloquence.
Attempted fine writing, abuses of language, ambitious terms of ex
pression, strivings for novelty, the educated judgment will sedulously

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 19
avoid. In addition to their offensiveness to good taste, affectations
of style fail also to produce any vivid impression upon the reader's
myid. No clear statement of facts, no careful analysis of character,
no satisfactory solutions of the problems of human conduct, can be
conveyed by language misused, wrenched and bedezined into showy
smartness. We might as well expect to get accurate notions of
Roman history from the readings of the erudite Mr. Wegg and his
version of the deeds of " Polly Beeious" and " Bully Sawyers."
There is a cloud, at present little larger than a man's hand, im
pending over our historical horizon, which deserves to be mentioned,
as its extension would threaten serious evils. It is easy for any
person, in this age and country, to rush into print. Men of little
education, sometimes men of no education at all. are accustomed, in
some shape, to contribute for the press. The old and honored
opinion that an author should possess sense, wit and scholarship is
not always heeded. Persons of small pretensions to those qualities
have tried their hands at pencraft, and their failure has not been so
ignominious and crushing as to deter others, with no greater qualifi
cations, from essaying similar performances. It is melancholy to
add, that there are persons so blind to the true dignity and elevation
ofthe domain of Clio, that they fancy, though they may lack the
capacity to make a respectable figure in any other department of
literature, they are amply qualified to write history !
An infatuation which threatens such dire consequences, it should
be the part of the judicious and discriminating to correct — kindly if
it may be, by pointing out how especially high erudition, acumen
and scholarly tastes and instincts are demanded for historical compo
sition — but with wise severity, if nothing else will serve, by criticism
blasting the ephemeral products of ignorance and self-sufficiency, like
the resistless tongue of the prairie-fire. The crusade against incom
petency and illiteracy is a righteous one : no armistice nor compro
mise should be permitted to stay its progress : mercy, no less than
justice, exacts that it should be a war of extermination.
In spite of all drawbacks, there is, I believe, no other country
upon earth, that affords greater facilities and encouragements for the
building up of a national historical literature of ample volume and
sterling merit, than our own. There is no lack of inducements for
authors of the highest genius, learning and taste to enter upon the

20 DISCOURSE.
work. There is an abundance of subjects, suited to the widest diver
sities of capacity and inclination . What land has signalized the passage
of time by events more various, striking and momentous than thpse
which our annals present ? What range of characters can be found
elsewhere, more diversified, curious and picturesque? There is no
period of our history that would not worthily employ the skill of
the cunningest limner of the past.
Consider the times of the early navigators in these western waters,
and their rude maritime enterprises in the pursuit of science and
fame ; the first settlements on these shores by civilized men, and the
strange juxtaposition of fugitives from religious persecution, of bold
adventurers in quest of new scenes and stirring deeds, and of sturdy
traders who accepted the hardships of the new world as the condi
tions of gain, all of them ere long forced to make common cause in
defending their infant colonies against the inroads of the red sons of
the soil ; the bitter, protracted, often settled and as often renewed
paroxysms of the Indian warfare ; the planting of the cross and the
lilies of France in Canada and through the great west by the emis
saries of the church ; the shifting fortunes of the gigantic struggle
between England and France for the mastery upon this continent ;
the dawning of the idea of independence upon the minds of the colo
nists, and their heroic and successful efforts and sacrifices to attain
it ; and the consequent laying of the foundations of a mighty repub
lic ; — consider this wondrous succession of varied and thrilling scenes
— to make no mention of later unparalleled occurrences — and you
realize somewhat the capabilities of American history for purposes of
illustration and artistic effect.
The materials for the composition of our national chronicles, at
home and abroad, exist almost in profusion. Fortunately the earli
est known discovery of America by civilized man occurred after the
invention of printing. We are not compelled to resort to tradition
or fancy to eke out authoritative records. Each successive voyager
to these shoves, from the great Genoese to the time when coloniza
tion was successfully effected, caused the results of his observations
to be recorded, and, in most instances, to be committed to the press :
so that during the whole of that earlier period, the archives of for
eign countries, supplemented by contemporaneous printed accounts,
furnish copious materials for framing the annals of American dis
covery.

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 21
After the planting of the colonies, a system of public records was
inaugurated in each municipality, which has preserved the informa
tion of an official and general character, almost without a break,
down to the present time. Of private documents, letters, journals
and memoranda, covering the same period, there is no lack, in the
possession of societies and individuals. The abundance of these
sources of information is only equalled by their accessibility. No
fees, exceptions or embarrassing restrictions attend the examination
of our public records or archives ; they present themselves almost
too invitingly, for a proper regard for their security from even unin
tentional injury. And it is creditable to add, on the best authority,
that by scarce an institution or a person in the land, possessing the
materials for the compilation of history, however choice or costly,
would permission to consult them, for any proper historical purpose,
be denied to any person of honesty and sufficient sense to appreciate
the value of the privilege.
Does the historian ask for substantial rewards for his labor, for
a circle of sympathetic readers, for the fame of literary success ? He
will not ask here in vain. Nowhere else is his profession so lucra
tive ; nowhere else does he address a body of the public so numer
ous, kindly and appreciative. They submit indulgently to the inflic
tions of mediocrity ; they are ready to raise paeans in honor of one
who entitles himself to a really high place in letters. The most in
satiable aspirant for wealth and honors will attain the goal of his
ambition, when he has become a successful contributor to the histo
rical literature of America.
From a survey of the field of the past and the present, I have an
abiding faith that our history is destined, in the fulness of time, to
be better written than that of any other people. The faults that
deface it now will disappear with a greater experience and higher
cultivation. When we see how much a generation has accomplished,
what may we not expect from a century ?
The inquiring and tentative spirit which characterizes our nation ,
will purify and confirm its history. Partisan and sensational writers
may for a time unsettle the minds of the weaker brethren, but the
truth will always bear, and be promoted by free discussion. In
exposing the errors of others, we fortify our faith in our own princi
ples. We want no shams or pious frauds in our annals ; the lessons
of the past are most wholesome when unadulterated.

22

DISCOURSE.

In that not too distant future, when the perfected American history
shall be written, the sources of knowledge and the grounds of opinion
shall be thoroughly ransacked, exaggeration of fact and of sentiment
shall be among the lost arts', learning, sense and taste shall guide the
pen, and truth and humanity prompt the thought.
We are assembled here to-day to make a formal opening and
dedication of this new building of the Historic, Genealogical Socie
ty. The genuine son of New-England is never fairly settled in life,
until he has become the proprietor, in fee simple, of a home of his
own. Before that consummation is reached, his plans are indefinite,
and, in law-phrase, ambulatory. But once established under his own
roof-tree, his future is mapped out before him, at a glance. His
home is the base from which his life-campaign is conducted. He
comes forth from the contact of his own soil, like Antaeus, renewed
and strengthened for the struggles ofthe world.
I cannot doubt that a kindred feeling will animate our New-Eng
land Society, on entering into possession of our permanent home.
This elegant and commodious structure, which we owe to the munifi
cence of a portion of our members, whose means are fortunately as
ample as their good will, and to whom no words of mine can render an
adequate tribute of gratitude, is to the Society a timely and fitting
help, recognition and encouragement.1 Once happily domiciled
within these walls, and no apprehensions respecting a local habitation
are hereafter to arise, to chill the ardor of our devotion to the objects
of our organization.
A year ago to-day, we listened to a valuable and impressive recital
of the work which had been performed by our Society in the quarter-
century of its existence ; now the appropriate inquiry is, what are
we to accomplish in the future ? For we are not to be content with
doing as we have done. A new talent has been entrusted to us for
our improvement, and we are not at liberty to hide it in a napkin.
We have incurred new and grave responsibilities by becoming house
holders. Henceforth, in forming an estimate of our operations, men
1 A list of the contributors to the expense of the building has already been published.
But the services of those who procured the contributions, and supervised the work, were
in the highest degree arduous and important, and are deserving of special acknowledg
ment. It is hoped it will not be invidious to name, out of the many gentlemen who ren
dered cheerful aid, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President, and William B. Towne, Esq.,
Treasurer, of the Society, who were untiring in their efforts to bring the design to its happy
conclusion.

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 23
will naturally take into account the augmented advantages of our
position, and will, not unreasonably, expect us to reach a higher mark
on the scale of historical progress than ever before.
Here on this twenty-sixth birth-day of our Society we dedicate
this edifice to the discovery and elucidation of historic truth. But
we can fitly complement the work, only by dedicating our individual
efforts and abilities, more earnestly and zealously than heretofore, to
the same cause.
Let us learn what it is necessary to do, to supply the wants, to add
to the resources, to heighten the efficiency, and to widen the influence
of our Society, and then address ourselves resolutely to the work of
accomplishing each of these results.
As a Society, let us keep free from all bias and prejudice in our
investigations, if we would gain for our opinions any authority or
respect. Let us never acquire the reputation of being image-break
ers or image-worshippers. Our institution, coterminous with New-
England, represents, we are proud to believe, no narrow prejudices,
no petty jealousies, no selfish purposes, but takes its tone from a
great body of honest and earnest workers and thinkers, various in
education, occupation and social position, alike in devotion to the
pursuits to which the Society is dedicated.
Its record in the past is one of which we may well be proud ; it
is for us to see to it that its future career shall do no discredit to its
early promise. Within these walls may each successive year behold
renewed zeal and application, wider capacity and higher culture ; and
may the New-England Historic, Genealogical Society, at all times
honorably bear its part, in the construction and advancement of
American historical literature.