they found continuous settlements, great towns, always within view of each other; that they could be induced by any consideration to roam for six years, through those vast regions, surrounded by numerous and active enemies, and finding, in all this time, scarcely any of that precious metal, which alone furnished the object of their search, I cannot bring myself to believe. There is little verisimilitude in all this. The moral habits of the aboriginal inhabitants cannot deceive us. They are as unchangeable as the Arabs. Their mode of life, in the earliest periods they were known, was the same it has been since, and as it is to this day, with slight variations. But the historians of De Soto's adventures describe another race of men. And who are these historians? One of them was either not born at the time of the expedition, or must then have been an infant. His narrative was principally compiled from the verbal statement of a participator in the expedition, at least forty years after its termination, eked out by some uncertain papers. The name of the other is unknown, and consequently all the extrinsic circumstances necessary to give weight to his narrative. And both were utterly unacquainted with the language of the Indians, as were the whole expedition; depending in their intercourse upon such means of communication, as chance threw in their way. Each has in turn been distrusted by respectable historians, through each has also found advocates. I consider both unworthy of credit. We can never be satisfied, that they relate facts as these occurred; while we are certain, from intrinsic evidence, that much which they do relate, is wholly fabulous. There are wanting the great sources of credit upon which all history must rest: confidence in the knowledge, judgment, and integrity of the writers, comparison with the general course of facts, as made known to us through other channels, and a natural concurrence between the transactions as recorded, and the condition and motives of the actors. A standard, constructed upon these principles, and applied to

these accounts, would reduce the authentic details of this expedition within very narrow limits; and would leave them wholly unworthy of credit for the only rational purposes, which could render them valuable, as illustrations of the manners of the time and the condition of the people, who then inhabited the southwestern parts of the United States, and as records of a daring adventure, selfish in its origin, romantic in its progress, and just and melancholy in its fate.

Historical associations have been formed in various parts of our country. Many interesting documents have been preserved and published by them. Their objects, however, are generally, if not local, yet limited to particular sections; and thus not interfering with the more extended range, which we have proposed for our labors. The collection, which is forming and printing under the patronage of the United States, is a subject of interest with all, who feel the value of these pursuits, and must tend to animate and encourage them in their course. The diligence of the compilers has already rescued from oblivion, probably from destruction, many interesting and curious papers, illustrating important events in our history; and the sources of information, that are open to them, promise a still more abundant harvest to their labors. But we may glean where they have reaped, and we may perhaps discover fields, which they have neglected. The newspapers and the fugitive publications of the day become valuable documents in a few years after they have issued from the press. Newspapers, particularly, present a living and moving picture of the times; and complete files of those of our own days will furnish for posterity the most abundant and authentic materials for history; or rather they will be history itself a history of the thoughts, words, and actions of men-a history of national intercourse, of the state of society, of the progress of opinion, of the advance of literature and the arts, of the mutations of government, and of the rise and fall of nations. What treasures to those who come after

us, will be complete collections of these publications! What treasures to us would be similar collections, depicting events in ages that have gone by! Who would not read with unspeakable delight a gazette of Palos, issued the day of the embarkation of Columbus, and describing the agitation, the hopes, and fears, of those, who assembled to witness his departure; the firmness of the ocean hero, the mixture of confidence and doubt in his followers, the equipment of his vessels, and all the variety of details, too low, it is falsely thought, for history, but not too low for natural and laudable curiosity? And who would not feel his blood flow quicker at the perusal of a paper, issued from the press, while his fleet was casting anchor, after its return from the discovery of a world-when conjecture had become certainty, prophecy history, and when Columbus had prepared for himself that simple but sublime epitaph, which was almost all an ungrateful country left him, and which announced to the observer, that the marble he gazed on covered the remains of him, who had given a new world to Castile and Leon?

But, besides the value of these remains as materials for history, they are interesting memorials of by-gone times. They are precious relics, which appeal to the best emotions of the human heart. They associate us with past events, rendering brighter and darker the virtues and vices, which variegate the retrospect, that is spread out for our improvement. He, who has not felt this power of association, is little to be envied. He would stand upon the plain of Lexington and forget that the silence of its peaceful village had ever been broken by that sound, which aroused a whole continent, and whose echoes are yet reverberating among the nations of the earth. He might sail among the islands of Lake Erie, unmindful of those who sleep below him, and recalling none of the proud incidents, which marked the triumph of Perry, and which will forever illustrate the scene of his victory. The deep waters may cover it, as they now cover the site of the great naval conflict

which humbled the pride of the Persian monarch and saved Greece from his yoke. But American patriotism will sanctify the one, as Grecian patriotism has immortalized the other.

One of the greatest writers of modern times has said that "to abstract the mind from all local emotions would be impossible, if it were endeavored, and would be foolish, if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings."

And yet, fresh as our country is, we are not entirely without those impressive evidences of mutability, which so often, in the older world, arrest the attention of the traveller, and excite melancholy but profitable reflections upon the vanity of human expectations. The North and the South each offers one striking illustration of this gradual decadence and total desolation. In a little and sheltered nook upon the shore of Lake Huron, the Jesuits, those early and indefatigable laborers in the interesting cause of aboriginal civilization, formed, in the seventeenth century, an establishment for the instruction and conversion of the numerous tribes, who occupied those then remote regions. They named it, from their own apostle of missionaries, St. Ignace, and it grew and flourished, and extended its influence over the countries bordering the internal seas, which are there spread out in such magnificence and beauty. At the same time, the first capital of Virginia was firmly established, improving and holding out the prospect of a long career of prosperity. Where are they now-this seat of pious effort and of Indian improvement, and this colonial capital, this renowned Jamestown, the cradle of American civilization? I have stood upon the ruins of both, and marked the desolation which has overtaken them--a desolation so complete that not one building remains, where all was once so busy, happy, and prosperous. He, who leaves such a

scene, will leave it with emotions, fitted to make him a wiser and a better man.

It is this principle of association, which impels us to gaze with such untiring interest upon those memorials, that have been connected with great events, or with names of renown, which sends us to our own archives to look upon the Declaration of Independence, or to examine the commission of Washington. It should be one of the great objects of all historical societies to gather as many of these relics as possible; to save them from the hazard of destruction and from the uselessness of disperson; to collect them where they may be preserved with jealous vigilance, and where, by concentration, they will excite the attention and stimulate the exertion of all lovers of literature. These things will go down to future generations, increasing in interest as they increase in years. Europe is rich in such memorials of antiquity; and her splendid collections are among the most powerful attractions, which entice our countrymen to her shores. Time has not yet mellowed our institutions; but we can garner up for others, though not for ourselves; we can lay by treasures, whose value will increase beyond the dreams of avarice. Let us do so. Let us, at any rate, lay the foundation. The superstructure may never be finished; but it will go on increasing in interest, useful in its freshness, and venerable in its decay.

In all researches into the history of this continent, we have one advantage over every other people. Our origin and progress are within the reach of authentic history; we have no fabulous nor doubtful eras to perplex investigation and to provoke discussion. We have, indeed, one remnant of antiquity, one surviving memorial of a former and unknown state of things-one race of men, whose origin is as doubtful as their fate. Their past and future are equally closed to us, and it were vain to attempt to penetrate the one or the other. They were here when Christian banners were first displayed