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The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, formed by the Officers of the American Army of the Revolution; together with a List of the Officers and Members of the New York Society, from its Organization to the Year 1851.

II. THE LIFE OF THOMAS COLE

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The Voyage of Life, Course of Empire, and other Pictures of THOMAS COLE; with Selections from his Letters and Writings. By Louis L. NOBLE.

III. THE EARLY HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS

The History of New England, from 1630 to 1649. By
JOHN WINTHROP, ESQ., first Governor of the Colony of
the Massachusetts Bay. From his Original Manuscripts.
With Notes. By JAMES SAVAGE, President of the
Massachusetts Historical Society.

IV. RUSSELL'S MEMORIALS OF Fox

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Memorials and Correspondence of CHARLES JAMES
Fox. Edited by the RT. HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL,
M. P.

V. CHARLES DICKENS: BLEAK HOUSE

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Bleak House. By CHARLES DICKENS. With Illustrations by H. K. BROWNE.

NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

No. CLXI.

OCTOBER, 1853.

ART. I.

The Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, formed by the Officers of the American Army of the Revolution, for the Laudable Purposes therein mentioned, at the Cantonment on the Banks of the Hudson River, May, 1783; together with some of the Proceedings of the General Society, and of the New York State Society; also, a List of the Officers and Members of the New York Society, from its Organization to the Year 1851. Printed by order, and for the use of the Members, of the New York Society. J. M. Elliott, Printer, 133 Water Street, New York. 1851. 8vo. pp. 120.

THE neat little volume before us, the title of which we have placed at the head of this paper, is one probably utterly unheard of and unknown by the larger portion of our readers. Nay, the very subject to which it relates—though one of the most curious features in our past revolutionary history — is perhaps equally strange to many of them. And yet it would seem hardly credible that a matter which occupied so large a portion of the thoughts and cares of the men whose actions and sentiments we, in these latter days, are constantly and curiously seeking to trace out and make manifest, could have remained for so long a time obscured to the world at large, and, at best, but imperfectly comprehended even by historical students generally. In the course of our remarks, perhaps the immediate causes of all this may appear more plainly; but

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there are other and more philosophical reasons why so much that relates to the earlier days of our country should have hitherto remained in obscurity. The unwearied industry of the writers of this generation has, however, done very much to elucidate the dark pages of the past; and perhaps the wonder is, not that we do not know more, but that we do not know far less of our fathers and their conduct. In this respect, we are fortunate in being a new people; our historians may begin at the beginning, and complete their tale, without being compelled to invoke the aid of superstition or imagination. As a nation grows in power and strength, it continues to delight to dwell upon the story of its birth — sequi vestigia rerum strive to pierce the misty veil of antiquity that enshrouds its source; even so far as to find a divine sire in the shepherd's hut whence issued the two robber-kings, whose mud-built walls inclosed the cradle of the future Mistress of the World. If we turn over the pages of history, we shall see that, “in the most high and palmy days of Rome," the people were enabled in their legends to invest with fabulous honors the ancients of their state. For them, when his race on earth was ended, the heavens opened to receive their fratricidal chief; for them, the shady groves of Caparella's valley

lucos, amœnæ

Quos et aquæ subeunt et auræ—

- to

were hallowed by the footsteps of the goddess who gave wise counsel to their king, around whose brows the thunderbolt of Jove played idly, but smote not. And yet the Alban colonists, who raised upon the banks of the yellow Tiber the first walls of the Eternal City, were really men of no greater mark — no more the favorites of supernal powers-than they whom this mighty land to-day salutes as fathers and creators; their career was signalized by events of as little note as those which attended the planting of the Colonies in America. Had it not been for the magnificent future of Rome, rest assured we should never have heard of its past. Mr. Macaulay well suggests that the faint memories of Arthur and the ancient British glories, as doubtfully preserved by

"High-born Hoel's harp or soft Llewellyn's lay,"

may give us some idea of what we might possibly now know of the she-wolf of the Lupercal, or the deeds of the brave Horatius "who kept the bridge so well," had Rome fallen before the sword of Lars Porsena, or the swarthy arm of the Carthaginian. Therefore, let us not take it amiss that we too have had small beginnings; let us rather be thankful that we are as we are, and that, from being as the small cloud in the west, scarce the compass of a man's hand, the providence of God has raised us up a powerful empire, whose realms extend from the east unto the west, from the frozen waters of the north to the clear blue waves and spicy gales of the tropic seas. And while we contemplate, with all the pride of a Roman citizen, the world-wide domain of our inheritance, let us quietly reflect upon the seed from which all this mighty harvest has sprung. Let us regard events as they actually were, not judging of their value or importance by what has come after them,and we shall see from what humble means, with what weak, unpromising tools, the destiny of the New World has been wrought. And we think the contemplation will bring more satisfaction to our minds, more gratitude for that Divine protection, under which we have been but as clay in the hand of the potter, than if we indeed should trace our lineage to a subverted throne, and our first settlements to the migration of a mighty empire. In every step, we cannot fail to recognize that power which moulds the destinies of nations, and in whose continuing care we may more safely put our trust than in horsemen or chariots: Si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?

Considered in this light, there are but few events in the early history of the American Colonies of sufficient intrinsic importance to either attract or deserve the notice of an historian. Suppose the later pages of the volume of our national fate to be as a sealed book to the investigator of a future age-let all records of the progress of the New World during the past century be blotted out-let it even be otherwise than it is; and how obscure and trivial would what remained appear in the eyes of those who, in far distant times, should look back. into the history of the nations, as we to-day inquire into that of

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