Motley called upon her at the House in the Woods (Huis ten Bosch), the palace in the very heart of the beautiful park or "forest," which every tourist to the Hague visits. Every American who has any knowledge of letters will notice there with pride a fine oil portrait of Motley hanging in one of the elegant saloons. It is a token of the appreciation and affection which the gifted lady bore toward our historian. For this interview was the beginning of a friendship which was quite intimate, and was enhanced after Mrs. Motley came to join her husband, and their residence was at the Hague, when the Queen became a frequent visitor in a familiar way at their house. During this same summer (1858), Motley was presented to the King, a man of no special literary tastes, but a hearty lover of his country and its history, an admirer of the virtues of his great ancestor William the Silent. He, therefore, in his soldierly way appreciated Motley's work quite as truly as his more cultured wife, and Motley was very favorably impressed with him.

Now comes an interval of about twelve years-not a counter-part of the ancient Twelve Years' Truce by any means-but one filled up with most portentous events in Motley's native land, as in his own personal history. We find him again at the Hague early in 1871. It was shortly after the unhappy termination of his mission to England, He writes to Dr.

Holmes: "We are not going to live in a royal palace at the Hague, as I read in the American newspapers. The Queen, with whom I have the honor of being acquainted for so many years, has placed a small house which belongs to her, and happens just now to be vacant, at my disposition. I am truly glad to accept the. kind offer, as furnished houses are very difficult to obtain at the Hague." The next letter, also to Dr. Holmes, is dated at" Kleine Loo," (Little Loo), to distinguish it probably from the grand summer palace of the King called the "Loo," in Gelderland. And one can see to-day that pretty little villa, just outside the "forest," almost in the rear of the Huis ten Bosch, looking out toward the open meadows, yet with its white walls shimmering among a cluster of trees. It was certainly a fine place for solitude and work; but rather too far away from the Archives. Motley and his family staid there only a few weeks. About May 1st, (1871), moving day in Holland as with us, they went to a house located at No. 6, Kneuterdyk, and were domiciled here for about two years. It is situated in the heart of the city, just around the corner from the Plaats; obliquely a very good view could be obtained of the famous and beautiful" Vyver." An oblique view in the other direction would cause the eye to rest upon the house of Barneveld, now the Treasury Department, but without essential external change. And while so conveniently near to

shops, bank, Royal Library (in the magnificent" Voorhout"), Archives, Royal Palace, it was in itself a house of sufficient historic associations to satisfy the most enthusiastic student of Dutch annals. Away back in the beginning of the fifteenth century. it stood there: "Modern as it looks," he writes to Dr. Holmes, "it was once the residence of Frank van Borselen, the last husband and consoler of the unhappy Jacqueline of Bavaria. Subsequently it belonged for a time to Count Hohenlo, who figured much in the war of the Republic for independence, and who married one of the daughters of William the Silent. Last,

JOHN DE WITT.

not least, it was the residence of John De Witt, who walked out through the garden just two centuries ago [1672] towards the prison, a stone's throw from here [the Gevangenpoort,

to the right

about two hundred steps from Motley's house] to speak with his brother Cornelius, who was locked in it, and whence they were both dragged and torn to pieces by the rabble on the square [the Plaats] which is before my eyes." Daily Motley would leave his door, pass under the archway of the prison gate; so enter the "Buitenhof;" then pass through another archway into the Binnenhof; behold the Hall of the Knights in front of which Barneveld was beheaded; pass along the north side of it, looking up at the very windows of the adjoining building where Barneveld and Grotius were kept prisoners for three quarters of a year; pass through two more archways; pass by the Mauritshuis or National Gallery where Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson," and Potter's "Bull" hang; cross the fine square of the Plein, where is a splendid statue of William the Silent; and so enter the noble old granite mansion which was the domicile or hotel of the Amsterdam delegates to the provincial estates or legislature of Holland in the days of the Republic, and which today is the depository of the Royal Archives.

In 1876 Motley, having now published all his works, made a final visit to Holland. His wife had died in 1874; the fatal disease that carried him off was upon him and had made him a physical wreck, incapacitated from pursuing his cherished work, not yet completed. He was the guest

of our Country.

Some interesting facts The have been recently Documen- brought out in connectary History tion with a proposed plan for the compilation and publication by Congress of the Documentary History of our Country. Having in view so comparatively recent a period as that of the Revolutionary era no one unfamiliar with the matter can form any adequate idea of the richness and variety of the historical material in existence, and not yet published. It is scattered through the various State archives, historical societies, in public libraries and in private collections, as well as in the several departments of the government.

It is interesting to note that as far back as 1778, the subject was brought to the attention of Congress, as will be seen by the following memorial letter.

PHILADELPHIA, July 11, 1778. The Honorable Henry Laurens, Esq., President of Congress.

SIR: Viewing Congress as the friends of science as well as the guardians of our liberties, I flatter

myself there can be no impropriety in soliciting their patronage and assistance for a collection of American State papers, which, from its evident utility, they will not deem unworthy of either. The design of it is to furnish materials for a good history of the United States, which may now be very well done, for so rapid has been our political progress that we can easily recur to the first step taken on the continent, and clearly point out our different advances from persecution to comparative liberty and from thence to independent empire. In this particular we have the advantage of every nation upon earth, and gratitude to heaven and to our virtuous fathers, justice to ourselves and a becoming regard to posterity strongly urge us to an improvement of it before time and accident deprive us of the means.

The undertaking will appear, at first view, to be too great for an unassisted individual, and experience has convinced me that although several years incessant application has produced an important collection, yet so numerous are the materials and so much dispersed that a whole

life would be insufficient to complete it in the way in which I have hitherto been obliged to proceed. I now propose to visit each State for that purpose, and must request of Congress a certificate of their approbation of my design, should they approve of it, and a recommendation to the several governors and presidents, grant me free access to the records of their respective States, and permission to extract from them such parts as may fall within the limits of my plan. To enable them to judge of the nature of the collection I beg leave to inclose the titles of some of the materials of which it is to consist, which please to lay before them, and believe me to be, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant,

EBEN'R HAZZARD.

This letter was referred to a committee, of which Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee were members. A favorable report was made, and in accordance with certain resolutions, patronage and facilities were extended to Mr. Hazzard. Two volumes only were published by him, but it is curious that not a single document relating to the rise and progress of the Revolution was included. Mr. Hazzard was soon after appointed postmastergeneral and owing to the pressure of ministerial duties and private engagements abandoned the work, and no one ever undertook to complete it.

More than fifty years passed before the matter was again taken up. On

March 2, 1833, Congress authorized the Secretary of State to contract with Matthew St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force for the publication of a work, entitled, "The Documentary History of the American Revolution." The work was begun while Edward Livingston was Secretary of State, in 1833, and was continued until Mr. Marcy's time (1853,) at which date. only nine volumes were published. The work was limited to twenty volumes, but was practically abandoned, it is believed, by the failure of Mr. Marcy to examine the material which Mr. Force submitted for a tenth volume. Scholars have never ceased to deplore the discontinuance of this work, and efforts have been made from time to time to cause its resumption.

If then, in 1778, under all the adverse circumstances surrounding that period, the Continental Congress ordered that to be done, which it is now proposed to do, would it be presumptuous for historical scholars, and the people for their posterity, to ask Congress to undertake it now? Many of the records of the eventful story are moldering or perishing. Beyond a comparatively few reprints of the correspondence of the men of the revolutionary period by private enterprise, the compilation by several States of records of their soldiers, the publications of the various historical societies and the noteworthy efforts by individual scholars, no at