their address to the King (in weh they pleaded their innocency & declared their abhorrence of plotts, & prayed to be releived in their sufferings;" the King gave them thanks, & said, he beleived them, & promissed to take care to redress them.

I plead against my interests, for the Severitys of those parts increase the plantation & improvement of these. But I am for the just & mercifull thing, whoever getts or loses by it, as ought all men of truth, honour and conscience to be, wch said give me leave to say something of this party.

I thank God, I ame safely arrived in ye province y the providence of God & Bounty of the King hath made myne, & which the credit, prudence, & industry of the people concerned with me must render considerable-I was received by the ancient Inhabitants with much kindness & respect & the rest brought it with them. There may be about four thousand soules in all. I speak, I think within compass; we expect an increase from France, Holland & Germany, as well as our Native Country.

The land is generally good, well water'd & not sa thick of wood as I immaggined; there are also many open places y' have been old indian fields. The trees yt grow here are the mulberry white and read, Walnut, black, gray and Hickory; Poplar, Cedar, Cyprus, Chesnut, Ash, Sarsafrax, Gum, Pine, Spruce, Oake, black, white, red, Spanish Chesnut & Swamp wth has a leafe like a willowe, and is most lasting. The food the woods yield is your Elks, Deer, Racoons, Beaver, Rabbits, Turkeys, Phesants, Heath-birds, Pidgeons, & Partridges innumerably; we need no setting dogs to ketch, they run by droves into the

2 This was Penn's first visit to America. He arrived at

The aire is sweet & clear wch makes a sereen and steady sky as in the more southern parts of France-Our Summers & winters are commonly once in three years in extreames, but the winters seldom last above ten weeks & rarely begin till ye latter end of December. The days are above two hours longer, & ye sun much hotter here than with you, wch makes some recompense for y° long nights of the winter Season, as well as the woods y' make cheap & great fires.

We have of graine, wheat, maize, Rye, Barly, oates, severall excellent sorts of beans & pease; pumkens, water & musmellons, all english Roots & garden stuff, good fruit & excellent sider. The Peach we have in divers kinds & very good & in great abundance. The vine of severall sorts & ye sign wth us of rich land) is very fruitfull & tho' not so sweet as some I have eaten in Europe, yet it makes a good wine, and the worst good vinegar: I have observed three sorts, the great grape y' has green, red & black on ye same tree, the muskedell, and black little grape which is the best, & may be improv'd to an excellent wine. These are spontaneous.

Of cattle we have the horse, not very handsome, but good-low cattle & hogs in much plenty & sheep encrease apace.

Our town of Philadelphia is seated between two navigable rivers, having from 4 to 10 fathom water; about 150 houses up in one year,' & 400 Country settlements, thus do labour to render our selves an Industreous colony to ye honor & benefitt of

tage, & lett them not be separated say I.

1 Many of the streets of the new city of Philadelphia, were named after the trees enumerated in Penn's list, and still bear those names, as Chestnut, Walnut, Pine, Spruce, Locust, etc.-EDITOR.]

The printed books on the subject do not exceed four or five hundred, most of them very rare. The Society probably possesses three-fourths of them, and have, probably, the most complete collection on the early history of the West to be found westward of the Alleghany mountains. The Society also possess a very valuable collection of old maps of the same region, and manuscripts. Some of the maps are very rare. During the year the Society has been presented with a series of valuable works relating to the antiquities of North and Central America. The collection includes the great work of Lord Kingsborough, in nine folio volumes, reproducing the picture writing of Mexico, in faithful fac simile.

The Society desire to investigate, more thoroughly than has ever been done, the subject of the mound-builders and their remains, in Ohio. A special contribution has been made to the Society, in money, for this purpose, but it is entirely inadequate. The Legislature ought to make an appropriation to be expended under the direction of the Society in connection with the State Geologist. With the fund contributed, surveys of the valley of Cuyahoga-the stream at whose mouth the city of Cleveland stands-have been made, and the result published in pamphlet form.

Fac similes have been made of several ancient inscriptions upon rocks within the state, by the photographic process, by which perfect accuracy has been obtained.

The Society deeply lament the loss of their late Secretary, Alfred T. GOODMAN, one of the most promising of the Historical and Antiquarian students of the West. He died in December last, at the age of about 26 years. A further notice of him may be found in another part of the RECORD. The Society also lost their Vice President, Mr. M. B. SCOTT, in February. 1872; and other prominent members of the association have recently fallen.

The following gentlemen compose the officers of the Society:

President and Curator.-COL. CHARLES WHITTLESEY.

Vice President.-DR. J. H. Salisbury.
Secretary.-(vacant.)

Treasurer and Curator.-HON. S. WIL

LIAMS.

Librarian. -MRS. M. MILFORD.

Curators selected.-Joseph Perkins, C. T. Sherman, J. H. A. Bone, C. C. Baldwin, Mrs. J. H. Sargent, John W. Allen, Miss Mary C. Brayton.

Curators ex-officio.-William Bingham, Benjamin A. Stanard, H. M. Chapin, James Barnet.

ABRAHAM GOUVERNEUR.-The Editor of the RECORD has received from the Hon. Gouverneur Kemble, additional interesting particulars concerning Abraham Gouverneur, the son-in-law of Jacob Leisler. Mr. Kemble says: "He was the son of Nicholas Gouverneur, a merchant of some standing in Amsterdam, trading with the colony of New Netherlands, and came to this country, a young man entrusted with his father's business. At that time, Amsterdam was the great school of merchants, and he had been well educated, speaking and writing, besides his own language, English, French and German, and from his after life as a judge, must have received instructions both in civil and commercial law.

As stated in a former letter, after the reversal of the sentence of Governor Sloughter's court against Leisler, Milborne, and himself, and his return to New York, the Colonial Legislature passed an act of indemnity awarding him one thousand pounds, a

record of which you will find in the printed statistics of the Colony. He was elected Speaker of the House of Assembly, on the 19th of August 1761. He was afterward made Recorder of the city of New York, which I think he retained until his death, with all his influence as the head or leader of the Leisler or popular party in the Colony.

The selection of Gouverneur, by Leisler, as one of his secretaries, Milborne, an Englishman being the other, appears to have been judicious, since he could have found few men in the Colony as well qualified for the position. There is a good portrait of him, strongly indicative of his character, of which I have a copy.

It is possible that Leisler, who was a native of Frankford, may have known something of his family, for the Gouverneurs were Breton Huguenots, and when they left Brittany on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, first settled in the vicinity of Frankford, where I was informed by Colonel De

Russy, the name still existed, although lost in France. Froissart says that Le Gouverneur, was a title conferred on a family who were the hereditary governors of the Crown prince of Brittany, during his minority.

The family were devoted whigs during the war of the Revolution; and Isaac Gouverneur, a merchant in the Island of Curracoa, who was appointed commissary general of the army in the West Indies contributed largely, by supplies of arms and ammunition, to the final successful issue of the war. He was evidently proud of it, as his portrait by Stuart, in my possession, is in the undress uniform of an officer on the staff of the American Army, and he wore it up to the time of his death. The Dutch Colony of St. Eustatia being better situated for collecting supplies and running them into American ports, than Curracoa, he there established his nephew, Isaac Gouverneur, Jr. as an assistant commissary, who was so successful in his enterprise, that Admiral Rodney, who commanded in the West Indies, to stop Gouverneur's proceedings, went with his fleet, took possession of the Island against all law, England and Holland being at peace, and having captured John Gouverneur, Jr. sent him to England in irons, where he remained a state prisoner until liberated by the return of peace.

NATIONAL HYMN.-During the late Civil War, a reward was offered for the best national hymn, to be so pronounced by a competent committee. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, of Boston, was the winner of the honor. The production was her famous Battle Hymn of the Republic. That lady has given an interesting account of its origin. On visiting the encampments of the Union Army, she heard thousands chanting the popular song of "John Brown's soul is marching on." She was pleased with the tune, but the words did not suit her taste. She desired, she said, to give a more sublime expression of the hopes of the nation, and she produced the Hymn.

The first line of the last verse, has puzzled the thoughtful. It reads

"In the beauty of the lily, Christ was born across the Sea."

Few were able to comprehend the full meaning, intended by the poetess. Mrs. Howe explains that not only the purity, symbolised by the lily, but more, was intended. The thought expressed in that line was suggested by Guido's beautiful picture of the Annunciation in the Quirinal Palace at Rome. In it the Angel Gabriel is represented handing to the Virgin a bunch of lilies, expressive of the announcement of the birth of that Holy King who should be called the son of God.

May not the Poetess have misapprehended the real meaning of the Artist, in that presentation of lilies, emblems of purity? Is it not possible, and even probable, that Guido thereby intended to convey the idea of the Immaculate conception of

the Virgin which, more than seven hundred years ago agitated the Christian church as a theological question? The Feast of the Conception had been celebrated in the East, at an early day, but its introduction into the Western or Romish church, produced bitter controversies, as it was sought to enforce the idea as a doctrine of the Church. Popes took part in the controversy and interposed their powers. At the period when Guido flourished, discussion of the subject was prohibited, excepting by Dominicans. May not Guido have quietly given his opinion on the subject, through that picture of a bunch of lilies? The present Pope defined it as an article of faith late in 1854.

With the occasion, passed away the significance of the hymn, and we still have no National Hymn, suited to the dignity of a peaceful, united and free nation.

A SUBMERGED CITY.-A correspondent at St. Augustine, in Florida, gives to a Florida paper an account of the discovery, in the Autumn of 1871, of a submerged city or village, on the West side of the North River, about seven miles north of that ancient town. The discovery was made at a time of extremely low tide during heavy gales for four or five days, which drove the water out of the river in a manner never before known. The foundations of the houses, according to the correspondent, may only be felt with poles, now, though at the time of the gale they were seen uncovered; but wells, walled with coquina, are now visible; and near the site of the city or village, is a coquina quarry, whose produce is equal to any found on Anastasia Island. It is in a hammock, but has been worked at some former period. The correspondent supposes the coquina for building the foundations of the submerged houses, was taken from this quarry.

INDIAN COMMISSION.- -The Government has lately sent a commission, consisting of General Cowan, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Delano Chief Clerk, and Mr. Wham, of Illinois, to the Territories of Montana and Dakota, to meet and consider the appeals of the inhabitants of that region for protection against the powerful and warlike Sioux Indians, who are assuming a hostile attitude. These commissioners are to meet representatives of the Indians, who, it is said, are excited by the progress of the Northern Pacific Rail Road. When will our government awake to the truth that the true policy is to make every Indian a citizen, hold him and her amenable to the laws as such, and abandon forever the paradoxical policy of treating them as nations with whom to form treaties, and at the same time as children, to be absolutely whipped into compliance with whatever the government may choose to demand? Do away with the whole machinery of "Indian Agencies" and separate "Indian Reservations," and make them responsible citizens, and we shall hear of no more Indian wars nor atrocities against life and property, than are known in other rude communities.

A MUMMIED HUMAN HEAD.-The Smithsonian Institution at Washington City, lately received a mummied human head, which retains all the forms and features of life, but reduced, by some process to less than half the size of that of an adult. These heads are found among tribes in the province of Chimborazo, in Peru, and are said to be of very great antiquity. They are supposed to be the heads of enemies slain in battle, and so preserved, as trophies of victory. The interior of the head is entirely emptied of flesh, bones and brain; and by its contraction, probably by heat introduced into the cavity, the skin is very much thickened.

PROFESSOR AGASSIZ.-This savan and his party, on board the Hassler, were, at the last accounts, on the coast of Patagonia late in March, busily engaged in dredging and carrying on exploratons along the shore with considerable success.

DEMOCRATIC NOMINATIONS.-On the 9th of July, a National Democratic Convention was held at Baltimore. More than seven hundred delegates were present. On the first ballot, on the 10th, they nominated Horace Greeley of New York, for President of the United States, and B. Gratz Brown of Missouri, for Vice President. Senator Bayard of Delaware, and the Delaware delegation, with a few others from other States, dissatisfied with the nomination, held a meeting in another Hall, adopted an address to the democratic party of the country, and called another convention to be held at Louisville, Kentucky, on the 3d of September next.

SABBATH SCHOOL.-It is said that Miss SARAH COLT, who died at Paterson, N. J., on the 17th of May, at the age of ninety years, organized the first Sabbath School in the United States. She gathered the mill-boys of that place on Sunday, for the purpose of teaching them to read and write, and from this resulted the Sabbath School as it now is, which is devoted to religious rather than secular instruction. Miss Colt had resided at Paterson almost eighty years.

ENLARGEMENT OF THE CAPITOL GROUNDS.— At the late session of Congress, a bill was passed authorizing the purchase of two squares of ground to be added to the public grounds surrounding the Capitol at Washington. This will cut off all parts of the immense building from public streets.

THE TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION.-This Tribunal reassembled at Geneva, in Switzerland, on the 25th of June, and after a session of two hours, adjourned to the 27th, when they again met and unanimously rejected the indirect or consequential claims made by the American government in the Alabama case.

GREAT HEAT.-The first week in July, 1872, will long be memorable in meteorological records, for the prevalence of intense heat over the whole Atlantic seaboard, and far into the interior. The death rate in the city of New York was fearfully increased from the first to the seventh of July, from the effects of the extreme heat. Seventy persons, and a large number of horses died in that city on the 2d by what is commonly called "Sun-stroke" -a prostration in consequence of becoming overheated. The mercury ranged from 95° to Ico° in the shade at the hottest part of the day, and was not below 90° at any time during the twenty-four hours. The general mortality was greatly increased during that time. The number of deaths from all causes, from Sunday the 1st to Friday the 6th,— six days-was 1348. Of these victims, a very large proportion were young children, who, in a crowded city, always suffer intensely in such hot weather.

A DESTRUCTIVE WEAPON.-One of the most destructive weapons ever made, on a small scale, is a fifty shot magazine musket, lately exhibited by Captain J. V. Meigs. Fired at short range, from the shoulder, the magazine of fifty balls was emptied in about twenty seconds, every shot striking within the space of a man.

DAVID PAUL BROWN.

One of the most distinguished members of the Bar in Philadelphia, during a period of half a century, DAVID PAUL BROWN, died in that city on the morning of the 11th of July, 1872, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was a native of Philadelphia, where he was born in the year 1795. At the age of twenty-one years he was admitted to the bar, and he was in practice without interruption until about two years ago.

Mr. Brown displayed much fluency, talent and tact as a speaker, at the beginning of his profes