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propriation will scarcely be felt after the receipts from the sale of the works are deducted.

The plan adopted by the Committee contemplates the publication of two works: 1, the continuation of the Colonial Records, and 2d, the selection of the most valuable of the original papers, and their publication, under the title of "Pennsylvania Annals." Both are to be published by contract, in which way it is believed that the price paid per volume will be very much less than that paid for the Colonial Records heretofore printed, while at the same time a proper fulfilment of the contract is carefully provided for. The edition of each work is directed to be the same as the number fixed in the Act of 1837, to wit: fifteen hundred copies, of which one thousand are to be sold, and five hundred distributed, as provided in the act. The price of the copies to be sold is reduced from one dollar and sixty cents to one dollar, which, in the opinion of the Committee, will ensure their sale, for the volumes of the Colonial Records already published, freely command one dollar and fifty cents per volume, and are not easily procurable even then; and of the immediate sale of the Annals no doubt can be entertained when the contents of those volumes are known. Their general interest throughout the country will be such that all persons will be desirous of possessing a copy. But, in affixing the price, the Committee were anxious to ensure as general a circulation as possible, by putting the works within the reach of all. The Colonial Records, as the Committee are informed, will probably make about eight additional volumes, of which two are directed to be published annually until the whole be completed, and the Annals will be embraced in not more than three volumes of the same size, which are to be published as soon as the selection and preparation is completed. The contract price, from the best information your Committee can procure, is estimated at from twelve to fifteen hundred dollars per volume, so that after deducting the estimated receipts, the nett cost of publication to the Commonwealth will be but a few hundred dollars per volume. For further details of the plan, the Senate is respectfully referred to the Act itself.

Your Committee now beg the indulgence of the Senate while endeavoring to give a brief sketch of the contents of the proposed works.

By the Acts of 4th April, 1837, and 14th April, 1838, the immediate publication of the Colonial Records was directed. Under the authority of those acts three volumes were published, when, owing to the monetary embarrassments of the Commonwealth, the publication was suspended. This, as an act of justice to the creditors of the State, was correct, but as our finances are now in a more flourishing condition than they have been for years, that reason can no longer be advanced. But the cessation of the work at that particular period was unfortunate, for the volumes published were the

least interesting part of the whole series, as owing to the limited size of the infant colony, and the absence of any war or commotion, the whole attention of the government was confined to the domestic affairs of the settlements upon the Delaware. Afterwards, as the reader approaches nearer the French and Indian wars, the whole character of the work changes. It is no longer a dry record of the official proceedings of the Council upon matters of little general interest at this day, but is interspersed with letters from agents and officers, reporting Indian massacres on the frontiers, with the correspondence and requisitions of officers of the British forces, with journals of extensive journeys made through the untrodden wildernesses of the northern and western parts of what are now the State of Pennsylvania, with records of the raising and officering of Colonial regiments, and with minutes of the various Indian councils and treaties, in which the speeches of the chiefs, often highly eloquent, are reported at length. To specify all the contents of the later volumes would be impossible within the limits of this report, but in general it may be said, that with the wider sphere of action the general interest is proportionably increased, and that many matters of the highest local interest, now forgotten, will be again brought to light. The petitions, remonstrances, and sufferings of the early settlers will be there found, and as a matter of curiosity it may be mentioned that the original Indian names of tribes, towns, mountains and rivers, now in many cases forgotten, are there, and there only preserved. In short, your Committee believe that the later volumes of the series will not only prove of general interest, but will be of such historical value, that some knowledge of their contents will be essential to every one professing to be conversant with the history of his native State.

It may also here be said, that the publication of this work would much foster and encourage the spirit of local inquiry now springing up throughout the State, as evidenced by the various county histories already published, and in this manner incidentally much valuable information may be preserved; and the encouragement of objects of this kind has ever been deemed a pleasing duty on the part of all liberal and enlightened governments.

As to the contents of the proposed Pennsylvania Annals, your Committee can scarcely find terms sufficiently strong to express their opinion of the value of those papers. Their other duties did not permit them to examine all the original documents in the Secretary's office, for that would be the labor of months; but many of the bundles were opened and their contents noted. Among the portion connected with the Revolutionary history of the Commonwealth, will be found many original letters from Generals Washington, Wayne, St. Clair, Sterling, Putnam, Arnold, La Fayette, Steuben, and others of the military chieftains of that day, from the Governor and Committees of Safety of New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and other States, and from distinguished civilians, such as

Franklin, Hancock, Clinton, Adams, and others of the same stamp. These were found in the bundles examined by the Committee; what may still remain in others, no one can tell without examination, for the papers are in such disorder that the endorsements only serve to mislead. Among the Washington letters are two of particular value, one written shortly after the battles of Trenton and Princeton, in which the prompt aid afforded by this State is said to have saved his army, and the other, covering twelve or fourteen pages of fools. cap, in relation to the treason of General Arnold, then recently discovered. What seems to be the entire correspondence relative to St. Clair's expedition and defeat, is also among these papers.

Of papers referring to the Colonial and ante-revolutionary history of the Commonwealth, the collection is equally rich and rare. Your Committee found original letters to the Government of Pennsylvania from the great William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, the Dukes of Argyle and Newcastle, the Earls of Halifax, Loudon, and others, Lord Amherst, Gen. Abercrombie, Gen. Braddock, whose whole correspondence, from his landing to his defeat, seems to be preserved, Governor Shirley, Sir William Pepperel, relative to the capture of Louisburg, General Gage, Sir William Johnston, of Johnston Hall, the Governors Penn, the Governors of adjacent colonies, and many other persons of distinction, which doubtless contain important historical facts. Besides these, there are a large number of letters from officers of the colony, containing facts of more immediate importance to the history of Pennsylvania. Among these may be mentioned numerous letters from Colonels Conrad Weiser, Hugh Mercer (who was killed at Princeton), John and George Armstrong, George Croghan, Major James Burd, and many other officers, containing reports of skirmishes, expeditions, the state of the country, &c., &c. There are also a large number of papers relative to the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming, which controversy forms an interesting and very important portion of our Colonial history. Among the curiosities may be mentioned an autograph letter of Col. George Washington, enclosing the original summons and terms of capitulation in the affair at Fort Necessity. In addition to all these, there are many journals of expeditions through the wilderness, as early as from 1730 to 1740, either to examine the country purchased, or about to be purchased from the Indians, to inspect the various forts erected to protect the frontiers from Indian incursions, or to make treaties with the Indians. Some of these journeys were so extensive as to reach the Ohio, and others crossed the New York line, and they are filled with highly interesting sketches of the state of the country and manners of the Indian inhabitants.

In short, your Committee are of opinion, that the Pennsylvania Annals will prove one of the most interesting and valuable contributions to historical knowledge which has yet been given to the public, for the remark heretofore made, as to the bundles not examined, is equally applicable to this portion of these papers. But in

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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.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. Edward 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 ths 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 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 cause 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 liberality of a Colonial Legislature; for the records of the Assembly cannot be clearly understood or investigated, unless placed by the side of those of the Council; so that if the suggestion of your Committee is carried out, the legislative history of the State will be complete to the present time. In commending the liberality of a Colonial Legislature for the publication of the minutes of the Assembly

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