I have found among my letters one from Dr. Channing, addressed to me while I was in Congress, and written less than a year before his death, which I have thought might fitly find a place in our Proceedings. Every thing from his pen is interesting, but this letter is peculiarly characteristic, both of the man and of the time at which it was written. It will speak for itself, without any comments of mine, and will show how little his great mind could have anticipated the condition of our country when the one hundredth anniversary of his birth should have arrived: ·

BOSTON, Dec. 30, 1841.

MY DEAR SIR, - Your well-known kindness encourages me to make a request. I will thank you to send me the public documents which relate to slavery and the slave-trade. In the newspapers I get them in fragments, and they are easily lost.

I wait solicitously for the action of Congress on the case of the Creole. England, I doubt not, will hold the high ground she has taken. An Englishman lately said to me, "I would sooner give up Canada than give up a slave," and he spoke, I trust, the sentiment of the nation. How painful and humbling that our country, boasting of its attachment to freedom, should come in conflict with another, because the latter declares that whoever touches her soil is free. A friend in Paris, speaking of our pecuniary deficiencies and sins, writes me: "We (Americans) are ashamed of our country and exposed to daily mortifications on account of the disrepute into which every thing American has fallen throughout all classes of Europeans." I fear that we are to plunge into deeper infamy, are to array ourselves against the principles of justice and humanity which other nations have adopted, are to throw ourselves in the way of the advancing civilization and Christianity of our age. The free States have been so accustomed to succumb to the arrogance of the South on the subject of slavery that I cannot but fear. The "New York Courier " announces that the question of annexing Texas may be brought forward during the session, and though this would be perhaps a more fatal measure than dissolution of the Union, it is possible that the North may submit to it. Can no compromise or arrangement be made by which the subject of slavery may be taken out of Congress, or detached from national politics? The free States, I think, should give every pledge that they will not exert the power of the general or state governments for the purpose of abolishing or acting on slavery in the slave States, any more than in foreign countries; and, on the other hand, they should insist on being released from all obligation to give support to slavery. Let them leave the subject wholly to the action of the slave States, interfering neither to uphold or destroy. I beg you to excuse the length of this letter. The subject is so interesting, that when I touch it, I cannot easily leave it. Very truly yours,

WILLIAM E. CHANNING.

ROBERT C. WINTHROP, Esq., M. C., Washington, D. C.

The business of the Annual Meeting was then taken up. The annual report of the Council was presented by the Chairman of the Executive Committee, Mr. Winslow Warren; that of the Librarian, by Dr. Samuel A. Green; that of the Cabinet-keeper, by Mr. William S. Appleton; and that of the Treasurer, by Mr. Charles C. Smith.

These reports were severally accepted, and here follow:

Report of the Council.

The recurrence of our Annual Meeting finds this Society with its ranks nearly full, its funds, as will appear from the Treasurer's report, in excellent condition, and its capacity for work and usefulness in no way diminished. The year has not been an eventful one in our history, though our meetings have been well attended and full of interest, and the contributions of our members to historical knowledge continuous and valuable. At the October meeting the Society voted to change the hours for the meeting of the Council and the Society, and adopted the early afternoon hours as more convenient to a majority of its members. Though regarded somewhat as an experiment, the change appears to have been promotive of the interests of the Society, and has not only increased the attendance, but added the presence of many gentlemen whose occupations forbade their giving the morning hours to the more pleasing duties of historical research.

The influence of the Society has been given to the preservation of our ancient burial-grounds by its petition to the Legislature for that purpose; and it is a satisfaction to know that the Act introduced by our Committee, Judge Hoar and Mr. H. C. Lodge, has secured these memorials of former generations from the threatened desecration.

The Memorial to Congress, in relation to the Yorktown Monument, has also been forwarded, and will doubtless aid the movement to mark appropriately the spot so noted in our Revolutionary history.

During the year we have been called upon to mourn the loss of but three of our Resident Members, Mr. Erastus B. Bigelow, whose thoughtful and inventive mind contributed so much to the social industries of the country and to the solution of important financial and economical questions; the Hon. Richard Frothingham, for many years our valued Treasurer, a man remarkable for his knowledge of the early history of our country, and more especially of all concerning our own immediate vicinity, intensely in earnest in whatever

he undertook, and whether addressing the general public through his books, or this Society in his frequent and valuable papers, never failing to command attentive interest, and to convince or captivate by his modest enthusiasm and thorough acquaintance with the subject in hand; and the Rev. George Punchard, whose decease has only to-day been announced to the Society.

We have elected as Resident Members of the Society,Messrs. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., Henry W. Haynes, and Thomas W. Higginson; and the Council have nominated to you, to fill one of the existing vacancies, the Rev. E. G. Porter of Lexington.

Of our Honorary Members, we have lost the distinguished statesman and general, John A. Dix of New York, and the eminent French writer and diplomatist, Count Adolphe De Circourt. Of our Corresponding Members have died, Benjamin R. Winthrop, Esq., of New York, J. Antoine Moerenhout of California, the Rev. William I. Budington of Brooklyn, New York, James Lenox, Esq., of New York, and the Hon. Samuel G. Arnold of Providence, R.I. News has been received also of the death of Mr. G. B. Faribault of Quebec, which occurred in 1866.

We have chosen as Corresponding Members during the year, Professor Franklin B. Dexter of Yale College, General John M. Brown of Portland, Me., President Andrew D. White of Cornell University, and Professor George W. Ranck of Lexington, Kentucky; and as an Honorary Member Frederic De Peyster, Esq., President of the New York Historical Society.

Since our last Annual Meeting, the Committee upon the Sewall Papers have published their second very interesting volume, to be followed ere long by a third; the Committee upon the publication of the Early Proceedings have published also a new volume, and have still another nearly ready for distribution; and a new volume of the annual Proceedings of the Society will be published in the early summer. As part of this last volume, will be found memoirs of deceased members that have been finished during the year.

Members of our Society have been engaged upon valuable historical work, and the Society may well congratulate itself that its prestige is in no peril while so many of its number are thus ardently engaged in this field of labor.

Mr. Francis Parkman has published a new edition of his "Discovery of the Great West," giving later and more complete information respecting the connection of La Salle with

that interesting period in. our early history. Mr. C. F. Adams, Jr., has published his "Chapter of Railroad Accidents," increasing the public indebtedness to him for many thoughtful criticisms and suggestions upon this important subject. Mr. Justin Winsor has issued a very useful HandBook of the Revolution. Mr. William S. Appleton, an extended genealogy of the Sumner Family, and, with Mr. William H. Whitmore, a Report of the Record Commissioners. Dr. S. A. Green, his Groton Orations, containing a fund of local antiquarian research. Mr. J. L. Sibley is understood to have nearly completed his second volume of Harvard Graduates; and, not less in importance, a very large number of our members are now engaged upon the exhaustive Memorial History of Boston. Messrs. H. C. Lodge, Henry W. Haynes, and Rev. J. F. Clarke have also been delivering instructive courses of lectures at the Lowell Institute in this city.

Our Cabinet-keeper, Mr. William S. Appleton, after faithful service to the Society for the past six years, has felt called upon to decline a further nomination to that office, and the Committee will present to you to-day the name of Dr. Fitch Edward Oliver as a suitable person to fill the vacancy.

In this connection it may be well to renew the suggestions in the last annual report that a more convenient and attractive arrangement be made of our collection of historical relics and pictures, and the Treasurer be authorized to appropriate a proper sum from the funds of the Society for that purpose. It is believed that the present crowded cases of interesting relics in our large front room can be replaced by larger ones so arranged as to display their contents with better effect, without occupying greatly more space, and that many articles but rarely seen in the upper room can be disposed to advantage upon the walls of the rooms connecting with the Library, greatly to the convenience of members and visitors. While the way is not yet open to us to more commodious quarters, a more judicious arrangement can be made of the many rare and interesting articles we hold, and the liberality of publicspirited citizens must be hoped for at some not distant day to furnish us with more convenient, and, we may add, less lofty quarters.

BOSTON, April 6, 1880.

WINSLOW WARREN,

Chairman of the Executive Committee

Report of the Librarian.

The Librarian has the honor to submit his Annual Report.

During the year there have been added to the Library: —

Of the books added, 450 have been given, 98 have been bought, and 21 procured by exchange. Of the pamphlets added, 2,500 have been given, 279 have been received by purchase, and 153 by exchange.

There are now in the Library, it is estimated, about 26,569 volumes; including files of bound newspapers, the bound manuscripts, and the Dowse collection. The number of

pamphlets is about 53,727. Mr. Amos A. Lawrence has added 100 volumes, 21 pamphlets, and 63 newspapers, all relating to the Great Rebellion. There have been bought with the income of the Savage Fund 40 volumes, 83 pamphlets, and 4 newspapers.

During the year, 211 books and 11 pamphlets have been taken out, and all have been returned. It should be borne. in mind, however, that the Library is rather one of reference than of circulation, otherwise the statement of the fact might give a wrong impression of its use.

BOSTON, April 6, 1880.

Respectfully submitted,

SAMUEL A. GREEN, Librarian.

Report of the Cabinet-keeper.

In making his last Annual Report, the Cabinet-keeper is glad to be able to say that the articles forming the Cabinet of the Society are all in good condition, but certainly in want of an arrangement by which they can be more completely seen, and to better advantage. At the same time, it is not easy to say just what should be done; but the retiring keeper hopes that his successor, beginning with a "new broom," may