public, for the remark heretofore made, as to the bundles not examined, is equally applicable to this portion of these papers. But in their present condition they are useless, and indeed fast perishing, and neither your Committee, nor any officer of government, even if they possessed the necessary qualifications, can consistently with their other duties, find time to examine these papers properly, and report what portion of them should be published. They have, therefore, provided in the bill herewith submitted, for the appointment of a competent person to examine, arrange, and prepare them for publication.

Your Committee would further remark, that although not competent to make a positive assertion to that effect, they are of opinion, from the slight examination they have been able to make, that the great mass of these papers have been hitherto unpublished, and probably scarcely known, a fact which adds very much to their value, and which, if correct, will certainly ensure the rapid sale of the copies authorized to be sold.

The papers themselves your Committee found in the greatest possible state of disorder, as before remarked, the endorsements, where any exist, only serving to mislead. Many of them, too, are fast going to destruction, under the combined influences of age and neglect, so that if any action is to be taken, it must be speedy, for otherwise a few years more will probably seal the fate, of a considerable portion at least. Some, too, have been mutilated, and others, doubtless, carried off. As an instance of the effect of these causes, it may be mentioned, that the paper on which the first volume of laws is written, has actually so far decayed that the volume is illegible. Happily a copy has been preserved.

To prevent the further destruction of these valuable papers as far as possible, your committee would recommend that the proper committee increase the contingent fund of the Secretary's office, in the next appropriation bill, by such small sum as will be sufficient, after the papers are selected and arranged, to have them bound in a permanent manner. In this way only can the object be accomplished.

In accordance with these views, the committee begs leave to report the accompanying bill:

An Act providing for the publication of the Colonial Records, and other original papers in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That the Secretary of the Commonwealth be, and he is hereby authorized

and required to continue the printing of the minutes of the Propri etary Government and Council of Safety, down to the close of the Revolutionary war, in 1783, from the point at which the third volume of the Colonial Records terminates, in the same size, shape, and style in which the volumes of the Colonial Records, already printed, are published; and that the number of copies of each volume shall be fifteen hundred.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, immediately after the passage of this act, to invite proposals for the publication of the records aforesaid, giving public notice for at least one month, in two papers published in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and Harrisburg, which proposals shall state the price per volume, and shall include the faithful and literal transcribing of the records aforesaid, under the superintendence of the Secretary: the publication and binding in a manner uniform with, and not inferior, to the volumes of the Colonial Records already published, finding all materials, and the delivery of them to the Secretary of the Commonwealth; which proposals shall be opened at the time appointed by the Secretary, in the presence of the Governor, Auditor General, and State Treasurer, who shall then with the Secretary, proceed to allot the contract to the lowest and best responsible bidder: Provided, That before assigning the contract as aforesaid, the successful bidder shall enter into bond to the Commonwealth, with two or more sufficient sureties, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, conditioned for the faithful fulfilment of his contract, which bond shall be approved by the Governor, Secretary, Auditor General, and State Treasurer, before being received.

SEC. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to direct the publication of two volumes of the aforesaid records, in each and every year, until the whole be completed; and so soon as the entire number of copies of any one volume shall have been delivered into his office, he shall certify that fact to the Governor, who shall then draw his warrant on the State Treasurer for the amount due the contractor, according to the contract, which shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the Secretary shall not certify as aforesaid, until upon examination he is satisfied that the contract has been carried out in accordance with the true intent and meaning of of this act, and especially, that the volume as published is a faithful and literal copy of the original.

SEC. 4. That any number not exceeding one thousand out of the fifteen hundred copies of the work directed to be printed shall be disposed of by a subscription, to be opened at the several county treasuries of the Commonwealth, at the price of one dollar per volume, the proceeds of which shall be paid into the State Treasury, and be applied to the continuation of the work.

SEC. 5. That two hundred copies of said minutes, when printed and bound, shall be placed in the hands of the Governor, to be by

him distributed among learned societies and public libraries in other States of this Union, at his discretion; that five copies shall be presented to the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society, the Philadelphia Library, and the Philadelphia Athenæum, each; one copy to each of the several colleges and public libraries in the State; one to each member of the present Legislature; and that ten copies shall be deposited in the State Library, and one copy in each of the record offices of the Commonwealth.

SEC. 6. That the Governor is hereby authorized and required to appoint some competent person, whose duty it shall be to select for publication such of the original documents, letters, treaties, and other papers, prior in date to the peace of 1783, now preserved in the Secretary's office, as may be deemed of sufficient importance to be published, and to arrange them according to date in one or more volumes, not exceeding five, of the size of the Colonial Records heretofore printed, which shall be called "Pennsylvania Annals."

SEC. 7. That so soon as the said papers are prepared for publication, in such manner as to meet the approval of the Governor and Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Governor shall draw his warrant on the State Treasurer in favor of the person so appointed as aforesaid, for the sum of one thousand dollars, as a full compensation for the services directed to be performed by this act, which shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, immediately after the Pennsylvania Annals as aforesaid are prepared for publication, to procure the printing of fifteen hundred copies of the entire series immediately, in the same manner and under the same restrictions as are provided in the second and third sections of this Act in reference to the publication of the Colonial Records.

SEC. 9. That when published, the Pennsylvania Annals shall be distributed in the same manner as is provided in the fourth and fifth sections of this act, in reference to the Colonial Records.

SEC. 10. That so much of any Act of Assembly as conflicts or is inconsistent with the foregoing provisions of this act, be, and the same is hereby repealed.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. Armstrong, from the Select Committee to whom was referred that portion of the message of the Governor which invites the attention of the Legislature to the original papers and records connected

with our Colonial and Revolutionary history, in the department of State, and to their exposed and perishing condition; and also a memorial from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, upon the same subject, begs leave respectfully to report:

That, in the year 1837, the Legislature, on the joint representation of the American Philosophical Society and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, directed the publication of the minutes of the Provincial Council, which direction, in the following year, was enlarged so as to authorize their publication to the period of the revolution, and to include other public records and documents: that, accordingly, two volumes appeared in the year 1838, and another volume in the year 1840, which brought the series down to the 23d of January, 1735-6, at which date the undertaking abruptly ceased, to the deep regret of those Pennsylvanians whose knowledge of the contents of these records, as far as they had been published, and of their increasing interest as the work proceeded, were led to believe they formed the chief source of our provincial history.

Your Committee do not propose to investigate the reasons, if any sufficiently substantial really existed, which for so many years have permitted the Legislature to withhold the completion of an undertaking they had so patriotically begun; withheld, too, at the risk of the loss of these invaluable documents, at some sacrifice of State pride, and certainly with a result calculated to render comparatively valueless what they have attempted to accomplish. At a period when the policy of the province began to assume a settled character, and when of all others, save that of the revolution, most likely to interest, do these volumes end.

The past history of States is generally obscure; not so with that of Pennsylvania: for although much has undoubtedly perished, much has been preserved. The causes which led to her establishment; the character of her founder; the struggles of her first inhabitants; the policy of her early legislation: in a word, whether sought to gratify a spirit of curious research, or to aid the graver purpose of the Statesman, the history of the infant settlement, the flourishing province, and the great Commonwealth, is all spread upon our records.

The Legislature of 1851 have now an opportunity of rendering valuable the undertaking of their predecessors, and of redeeming their State from the charge of a neglect of her history.

Another argument for the continuation of the publication of these records, and for bringing the series down to the period of the adoption of the Constitution in 1790, may be found in the fact that the minutes of the Provincial Council have been published only to the year 1736; yet the minutes of the Assembly have been published from the organization of that body, on the 4th of October, 1682, and through all the changes of government to the present time. A circumstance which renders a completion of the minutes of the Council indispensable, in order to derive the proper benefit from the lib

him distributed among learned societies and public libraries in other States of this Union, at his discretion; that five copies shall be presented to the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society, the Philadelphia Library, and the Philadelphia Athenæum, each; one copy to each of the several colleges and public libraries in the State; one to each member of the present Legislature; and that ten copies shall be deposited in the State Library, and one copy in each of the record offices of the Commonwealth.

SEC. 6. That the Governor is hereby authorized and required to appoint some competent person, whose duty it shall be to select for publication such of the original documents, letters, treaties, and other papers, prior in date to the peace of 1783, now preserved in the Secretary's office, as may be deemed of sufficient importance to be published, and to arrange them according to date in one or more volumes, not exceeding five, of the size of the Colonial Records heretofore printed, which shall be called "Pennsylvania Annals."

SEC. 7. That so soon as the said papers are prepared for publication, in such manner as to meet the approval of the Governor and Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Governor shall draw his warrant on the State Treasurer in favor of the person so appointed as aforesaid, for the sum of one thousand dollars, as a full compensation for the services directed to be performed by this act, which shall be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 8. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, immediately after the Pennsylvania Annals as aforesaid are prepared for publication, to procure the printing of fifteen hundred copies of the entire series immediately, in the same manner and under the same restrictions as are provided in the second and third sections of this Act in reference to the publication of the Colonial Records.

SEC. 9. That when published, the Pennsylvania Annals shall be distributed in the same manner as is provided in the fourth and fifth sections of this act, in reference to the Colonial Records.

SEC. 10. That so much of any Act of Assembly as conflicts or is inconsistent with the foregoing provisions of this act, be, and the same is hereby repealed.