CONCLUDING AND GENERAL ADDRESS TO THE READER. Agreeably to the announcement made in the last volume, this work is now brought to a close. Although ten volumes have been published, they are very far from containing all that has been written, not to mention what remains unwritten, on the opkomst, aanwas en geschiedenis—the origin, progress, and history, of Albany. A peculiar and unique interest attaches to Albany, as the eldest born of existing settlements in the original United States: and, during the entire two and a half centuries that have elapsed since her origin, she has not ceased to be regarded as a place of public consideration and importance. In the Colonial times, Albany was the great entrepôt of the Indian trade. Here the lordly Iroquois met their white brethren in council; and treaties were entered into, and leagues were formed. And here, under the leadership of Franklín, the assembled delegates of the different colonies first learned to exercise the confederated power that, some thirty years later, achieved their independence of all foreign rule. And, on the surrounding hills, or covering the lowlands by the river side, here were gathered and marshaled those brilliant hosts, that marched forth to contest, with various fortune but final success, the French supremacy in America. And, as the patriotic statesmen of the Colonies had |