REPORT.

To His Excellency the Governor:

The committee appointed to determine what papers in the custody of the secretary of state, or elsewhere, shall be included in a further continuation of the publication of early state and province papers heretofore undertaken, respectfully submit the following report :

The work of publishing the early province and state papers of New Hampshire has progressed in accordance with the provisions of several public resolutions of the Legislature. These resolves, in the order of their enactment, are appended to this paper.

Dr. N. Bouton edited ten volumes, seven of which related to the period between 1623 and the American Revolution. One volume, the eighth in the series, contained papers which related principally to the time of the Revolution. The ninth volume was devoted mainly to town papers of the period prior to the year 1800. It also contained important documents relative to the work of the early constitutional conventions. The tenth and last volume of Dr. Bouton's work contained valuable papers relating to the controversy with Vermont, the results of the first census enumerations, and the journals of constitutional conventions.

It appears that Dr. Bouton published the journals of the assembly (with the exception of the House Journal, 1711 to 1722), and other contemporary papers, without assuming a large discretion to make abstracts from and condense the original text, until his work had been brought down to the year 1754. At this point, with the consent of the Governor, he began to make omission of such matter as he deemed of minor importance (see vol. 6, preface p. 3, and note on page 320). He continued on this method until the end of volume 8. We regard this as a very unfortunate change in the plan of the

work. It is not possible for the most learned editor to anticipate what part of such records will be deemed especially important and valuable by those who will have occasion to consult them in an indefinite future.

The omission of material parts of such a record from printed copies is a source of endless inconvenience; for, however full and judicious a mere abstract may be, its incompleteness renders it untrustworthy, and often that which is most sought for by those engaged in historical research is hidden in the rejected manuscript.

No period of our history is more important than that from 1754 to 1784, wherein Dr. Bouton's work is fragmentary. It should have included all the manuscript records we have relating to the French and Indian War, the agitation and controversy which preceded the Revolution, and all relating to the Revolution itself, in all the phases of its inception, progress, and consummation.

Much of the official correspondence and other papers illustrative of the period, has been printed in subsequent volumes, edited by Mr. Hammond.

The publication of the journals of the council and legislative bodies. was not attempted by Dr. Bouton, later than November, which was the end of the political year 1782-83. The state government, under the constitution of 1784, did not go into operation till June, 1784. We see no good reason why the journals and contemporaneous official papers from November, 1783, till June, 1784, should not be published in the series. From June, 1784, till June, 1793, was a period of great importance and interest in the history of New Hampshire. In that time occurred the federal and state conventions, from which came the federal union; and, in the same time, questions of internal policy and of government, all of vital importance to the young State, were discussed and settled. All available town papers in the state archives have been published to the year 1800. The rolls of the soldiers of the Revolution have also been given in the same series. It seems very desirable that the matter still unpublished, and which relates principally to civil administration and constitutional development, should be arranged and printed as a continuation of the series on a logical and comprehensive plan.

The material for the additional volumes may be classified and described in parts.

I. THE CHARTERS OF TOWNS.- A great portion of the territory of this State, and a part of what is now the State of Vermont, were granted in townships by the royal governors of New Hampshire. These charters or grants are recorded in five volumes. They contain the names of the original grantees, and a plan of each grant with courses and distances duly indicated. These instruments are the sources to which the owners of real estate must revert to complete the abstracts of title in almost every town in the State. There is but one copy of these records. It is not good policy to hazard the existence of all this important title evidence upon the preservation of these manuscript volumes from fire and other forms of destruction or defacement. They are a part of the documentary history of the towns. When published in this series of state papers, they become freely accessible in the public offices and public libraries of every municipality. As a useful and appropriate feature of such a publication, copies of the early township maps might be included in the books. A sample of such illustration may be seen in the Vermont governor and council records, Vol. VIII. p. 430.

A few of the grants in New Hampshire were by Massachusetts authorities, and a considerable number of townships in Vermont were New Hampshire grants. These should all be included in the contemplated work, because they are necessary for purposes of completeness, and the increased demand thereby occasioned would amply compen sate for the small additional expense to the State.

2. The journals of the councils and assembly for the sessions in which they have not yet been reprinted, and those which have been reproduced in a mutilated form, are in order for publication in volumes of this series, so that this class of the early papers may have place in the work. They should be brought down to the year 1800, and thereby the records of legislation will have been made equally accessible with the contemporaneous records of local affairs, already given in vols. 9, 11, 12, and 13, which are limited to a period prior to 1800.

3. The laws of the Province subsequent to 1771, and of the State

It

from 1775 to 1800, are not accessible, except in a few places, and it is doubtful if a complete series is now in the possession of any single custodian. The public acts were in many of those years published separately in sheets, and no complete set of the printed laws can be found. The exception in article twenty of the bill of rights in the state constitution, limiting or qualifying the right of trial by jury, renders it necessary for the courts and the people generally to consult the statute law existing prior to the adoption of that instrument, whenever the usage or custom as to modes of trial is in question. is right and expedient that the laws of the period should be in printed form convenient for the use of the public. This would be effected by publishing in this series all the acts and resolves subsequent to 1771 in the order of their enactment. The manuscript records in the office of the secretary of state, all authenticated publications of those acts, and the contemporaneous compilations should be consulted for that purpose. Careful annotations, having reference to alterations and repeals of these acts, are always important in such works, and thorough indices are indispensable.

4. The miscellaneous papers are not readily classified, being partly related to legislative and partly to administrative matters, but they are an important element in the archives. They grew out of the civil, military, and diplomatic relations of the colony and early state government. There are minutes of the council, messages of the governors and the replies thereto, records of the correspondence and controversies with adjoining provinces about boundary lines and other matters, that are still accessible. Papers are received also from time to time from England, which relate to New Hampshire as a colony of Great Britain. This division includes matter which cannot reasonably be omitted from the series. A considerable part of vol. 17 was devoted to this class of papers, and more will be given in vol. 18, now in preparation.

5. Another class of papers which should be included in this publication consists of the records of the provincial council while acting as a judicial tribunal. This matter is subject to frequent reference for the information it contains as to the jurisprudence of the colony. In its present form it is available for use only by the

expenditure of much labor and time. It is not necessary that names of parties should be given in all cases to the annoyance of any who may be sensitive on matters of ancestral record. With judicious editing of the material, it would be a publication of great legal and historical value.

The prefatory statements in the seven volumes edited by Mr. Hammond give all necessary explanation of the plan, scope, and progress of his own work. There is no better method of ascertaining its character and quality than by a critical examination of the indexes and text. We have no hesitation in asking a full application

of these tests of merit.

A few more volumes will complete the work to the year 1800. We have no doubts as to the expediency and necessity of an active and immediate prosecution of it to a consummation worthy the sterling history of the State.

We were formerly at a disadvantage in the hands of national historians, journalists, and general writers, in the presentation of our part in the military events of the colonial and revolutionary period, and in the development of civil government in the original States. The cause of this lay in the inaccessible condition of our state archives. General and school histories seemed to depreciate or to ignore New Hampshire as a factor in the Revolutionary struggle. The publication of the rolls of our soldiery in the war for independence has occupied more than three thousand pages of the work under review, and the evidence of the patriotic effort and sacrifice of the people of New Hampshire can no longer be discredited. That evidence is now in the principal libraries of the country.

The deficiency in authentic and accessible printed works, in which the civil history of the State can be sought from the original records and writings for the period from 1754 to 1800, still exists in too large measure. Those who have in charge the compilations relative to the recent national centennial celebrations are in confusion and error on many points of New Hampshire history touching those events. The recommendations here made point to full and effective remedies of this deficiency. A reasonable pride in the record which our State has made in the building of the American republic, we are confident.