"The principles of New England," says a distinguished foreign writer, "spread at first to the neighboring States; then they passed successively to the more distant ones; and at length they imbued the whole Confederation.” * To allude here to influences exerted by the people of New England on the fortunes of the nation of which it now makes a part, would be to anticipate later portions of my narrative. But there is one evidence of their efficiency, which admits of the simple and precise illustration of figures. The reader of this volume will see how poor was Massachusetts in her early years. Her soil is barren; and she has no natural staple commodity of great value in the markets of the world. Yet at the present time, a little more than two centuries and a quarter from the date of her foundation, her taxable property-exclusive of property belonging to institutions of religion, education, and benevolence amounts to a thousand millions of dollars. Equally divided, it would afford more than eight hundred and eighty dollars each to every man, woman, and child within her borders. From the reserved fruits of the labor of eight generations "she could give a dollar to each of the thousand millions of the inhabitants of the earth, and still have all her schools, meeting-houses, town-houses, alms-houses, gaols, and literary, benevolent, and scientific institutions, left as nest-eggs to begin the world anew." The value of the regis tered products of the labor of her people for the year ending June 1, 1855,- undoubtedly falling far short of the actual amount, was two hundred and ninety-five million eight hundred and twenty thousand six hundred and eighty-one dollars.‡

The history and education of a race so numerous, so peculiar, so widely scattered, and constituting so large an element of the wealth and power of a great nation, present a subject well worthy of attention. When I began to think of it as offering a suitable

* De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Chap. II.

† Christian Examiner, LXV. 34.

‡ Statistical Information relating to certain Branches of Industry in Massachusetts, collected and published by the Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1856.

employment for what may remain of my life, it had already been long a favorite occupation of my leisure, and I had occasionally treated portions of it in the periodical publications of the day. In the more careful investigations into which I have now been led, I have been gratified to find confirmation of judgments which I had earlier expressed respecting some prominent features of the theme.

I persuade myself that I have been both diligent and successful in the search for information. Large supplies of original materials for my work lay close at hand in the libraries of the University at Cambridge, of the Boston Athenæum, and of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and, on the part of each of those institutions, I have had every accommodation that could be desired. I was also liberally welcomed to the use of different private collections, among which I ought particularly to mention the valuable ones of my neighbor, Mr. Charles Deane, and of Mr. John Carter Brown of Providence. Mr. Deane's books were Brown, to whom I am

a constant resource to me; and Mr. indebted for access to some not to be found elsewhere, carried his generosity so far as to request me to take to my own home as much of his choice and sumptuous collection, as my convenience might require.

In the spring of 1856 I went to England, for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of some facts important to my purpose, and of satisfying myself on some questions that had arisen. Mr. Dallas, Minister from the United States, promptly interested himself in my behalf. At his instance, Mr. Labouchère, Secretary of State for the Colonies, obligingly gave the necessary directions for my admission to those public offices where much of my quest was to be made. Mr. Merivale, Under Secretary of the Colonial Department, promoted my investigations, and they were facilitated by the kindness of Mr. Reeves, Secretary to the Privy Council, and of Mr. Lechmere and Mr. Lemon, of the State-Paper Office. I would gratefully record my obligations also to Mr. Panizzi, Principal Librarian of the British Museum, and to Mr. Jones, Mr. Watts, and Mr. Major, of that institution,

for the useful attentions by which they enabled me to avail myself of its treasures. I employed most of the summer in the examination, in London, of records and other manuscripts, and in the consultation of rare books. A large portion of my memoranda, then obtained from the sources which I have indicated, and from others, relate to periods of the history more recent than that which is treated in the present volume. Many of the hours when the public establishments were closed, I was enabled, by the hospitality of the Athenæum Club and the Reform Club, to employ, advantageously for my object, among the standard books of their excellent libraries.

I have regarded it as the duty of an historian to rely most upon the evidence of those witnesses (provided they were otherwise trustworthy) who lived nearest in time and place to the events related; and I have not knowingly rested any statement on authority of an inferior description. Governor Winthrop's "History of New England," Governor Bradford's "History. of Plymouth Plantation," and Nathaniel Morton's "New England's Memorial," as edited respectively by Mr. Savage, Mr. Deane, and Judge Davis, are rich storehouses of information respecting the events of our primitive times. The thirty-four volumes of published "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society" comprehend numerous treatises, larger and smaller, of the highest value to the historical student. The less extensive published Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, of the Historical Societies of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New York, of Mr. Force of Washington, and of Messrs. Farmer and Moore of New Hampshire, have materially increased the fund of historical wealth. Single tracts, to which I have had access, now extant in a small number of copies, whether printed or manuscript, have often served a useful purpose. The official Records of Plymouth and of Massachusetts, as recently edited by Dr. Shurtleff, those of Rhode Island, by Mr. Bartlett, those of Connecticut, by Mr. Trumbull, and those of New Haven, by Mr. Hoadly, are of course documents of the highest authenticity and import, and have been daily in my hands.

I have thought that the course of early events in New England required often to be interpreted by bringing to view their relations to earlier and contemporaneous transactions in the parent country. So far as I have recounted those transactions, I have been dealing with the commonplaces of history. But I have endeavored to secure myself against one-sided representations by constant reference to the views entertained by writers of various affinities, political and religious; and I have written with the works (among others) of Hume, Lingard, Hallam, Neal, and Mrs. Macaulay constantly before me. Whenever a questionable statement of any fact presented itself, I have referred to the Parliamentary History, and to the Journals of the Lords and of the Commons, as well as to the early books of general history, or to books belonging to some special department, or treating some particular topic, according to the nature of the case.

I have not failed to seek instruction and suggestions from those who have preceded me in this line of research. Besides writers who have treated of the origin and progress of New England as a part only of the more comprehensive history of the United States, others- especially Hutchinson, Belknap, and Trumbull-produced works in the last century which will have a durable value in respect to the history of single States; while, among our contemporaries, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Hollister, Mr. Baylies, and Mr. Barry, by their works respectively on the history of New England, of Maine, of Connecticut, of Plymouth, and of Massachusetts, have secured an honorable reputation by their labors in this field. A History of Rhode Island is announced, from the able pen of Mr. Samuel Greene Arnold of Providence. I regret that it has not appeared in season for me to compare the conclusions which I have reached in that department of inquiry, with those of so wellinstructed and judicious a writer. The "Historical Discourse " of Callender — hitherto the principal authority on the subject does not satisfy curiosity as to the course of events in the Narragansett settlements.

In treating such a theme, so far am I from any ambition of appearing to have gone on unaided, that I should deem myself blamable, had I not sought help in every accessible quarter, and, in particular, had I not applied at the best sources for that local and circumstantial information which sometimes is not to be had from books. From Mr. George Folsom, formerly of Maine, Mr. John Langdon-Elwyn of Portsmouth in New Hampshire, Mr. William S. Russell of Plymouth, Dr. King of Newport, Mr. J. Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, Mr. Charles J. Hoadly, editor of the Records of New Haven, Mr. Sabine, formerly of Eastport, and the Reverend Alonzo H. Quint, formerly of Dover, I have received material assistance in the treatment of those portions of my subject with which these gentlemen, from their respective positions and from the course of their studies, were minutely acquainted. If I have fallen into error in regard to matters of fact on which I have consulted them, it must have been through misapprehension of their statements.

In the preparation of different parts of my work, I have had assistance from so many sources, that I cannot undertake to enumerate them all. My obligations to Professor Guyot, in respect to the Physical Geography of New England, I have acknowledged in another place. Professor Gray, Professor Cooke, Professor Wyman, and Mr. George B. Emerson, gave me information concerning different branches of its Natural History. Dr. J. G. Kohl, whose return to his own country the scholars of this do not cease to regret, contributed to my knowledge of the movements of the early voyagers to this continent. Count Pulszky (with whom in Europe I was so fortunate as to renew my acquaintance), and Mr. George Sumner, helped me to understand the adventures of Captain John Smith. At different stages in the prosecution of my work, I have found new occasion to appreciate the learning and judgment of Mr. Parsons, Dr. Francis, Mr. Bowen, Mr. Torrey, and Mr. Lowell, Professors in the University at Cambridge, and of Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the Reverend Edward Everett Hale, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, and other friends, competent and ready to ren