certain period when a number of suits were brought, or indictments preferred to the grand jury; that Brison was known to be at the bottom of the business-that he was a damned scoundrel and conceited coxcomb-that nothing could ever turn out about Pittsburgh, but he must be writing to the governora puppy, added he, what has he to do with the governor? it was his place to have sat in his office, and issued writs, when called on, &c. I observed to him, if he had any reasons to offer to the commissioners, why Brison should not be suffered to return, he had better offer them himself; no petition was presented. These are facts which I have stated; and I leave you at full liberty to make any use of them, you may think proper. I would have answered your letter before, but have been much indisposed.

I am. Sir, your very humble servant, DAVID BRADFORD. Major Isaac Craig.

HEAD QUARTERS, PITTSBURGH, Nov. 22, 1794.

SIR: I have received your letter of the roth Inst., and maturely considered its contents.

I am concerned that the party in pursuit of Mr. Bradford were unsuccessful in efforts to arrest him, inasmuch as I fear the late convulsions of this part of the country may in a great degree be ascribed to his counsels and efforts. I hope, at the same time, that he will yet be delivered into the hands of Justice, that may expiate by his punishment, those offences which he is supposed to have committed against that country from which he derived his existance and support; but while I wish that he should be taken, I wish not that he should be destroyed; on the contrary I should be affected with great concern should I hear that he had been killed, or even treated with unnecessary severity or cruelty. It is the happiness as it is the pride of America that no person can be deprived of his property or his existance but by Law. the principles of Justice on which are founded those of the Law pronounce that before he shall be deprived of the latter he shall be confronted with his accusers, allow'd the benefit of exculpating Testimony and permitted to urge whatever he may think necessary for his defense.

Conformably to this Idea they the several offenders who have been seized in this deluded country have been regularly delivered to the Civil power which will deal with them according to their merits.

Permit me therefore to assure you, Sir, that the Information you have rec'd that I wished Bradford

This letter from Gen. Henry Lee to Captain D'Hebecourt, I preserve, because I greatly admire the noble and humane spirit which is displayed in every line. David Bradford was undoubtedly the master spirit, the very Cataline of that first rebellion against the National Government. His exemplary punishment would have been very useful as an ex ample, if done legally and in strict conformity with the laws of the country, but this gallant soldier of the Revolution, shrank with horror from the idea of sacrificing even David Bradford like a wild beast. NEVILLE B. CRAIG.

"

From the Constitution of the United States. Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

From Mr. Jefferson, U. S. Minister at Paris, Dec. 11, 1787; to our Minister at Madrid: "War (between England and France) being now imminent, Eden, since Lord Aukland, questioned me on the effect of our treaty with France, in the case of a war, and what might be our dispositions. I told him frankly, and without hesitation, that our disposition would be neutral, & that I thought it would be the interest of both these powers that we should be so; because, it would relieve both from all anxiety as to feeding their West India Islands; that England, too, by suffering us to remain so, would avoid a heavy land war on our continent, which might very much cripple her proceedings elsewhere;

that our treaty (with France) indeed, obliged us to receive into our ports the armed vessels of France, with their prizes, and to refuse admission to the prizes made on her by her enemies; that there was a clause, also, by which we guaranteed to France her American possessions, might perhaps force us into the war, if these were attacked. Then it will be war,' said he, 'for they will assuredly be attacked." Vol. I, Jefferson's Works, p. 63, and Vol. 11, same 269.

Instructions from our Secretary of State, to John Q. Adams then minister at London, Aug. 25, 1795. If after every precedent effort, you find that the order in council respecting provisions, cannot be removed, its continuance is not to be an obstacle to the exchange of ratifications. Doc. 102, No. 206.

(Such obstacles were not removed by Mr. Adams, the treaty was ratified, and the result was that many millions of dollars were lost by our shipping merchants, who were subsequently reimbursed, for such losses, by England. The French Government manifested her revengeful indignation by ordering the indiscriminate capture and confiscation of all American vessels, and this order was enforced with the utmost rigor. And yet be it said to the credit of France, that she freely acknowledged the obligation to satisfy the spoliation demands of our citizens, while at the same time she was inexorable in her demands of a political character, under existing treaties.)

Mr. Jefferson in a letter to Mr. Hammond, the British Minister, dated Sept. 9, 1796, says, as follows: 'Though the admission of the prizes and privateers of France is exclusive, yet it is the effect of a treaty made long ago for valuable considerations, not with a view to the present circumstances, nor against any nation in particular, but all in general; and may, therefore, be faithfully observed without offence to any; and we mean faithfully to observe it." Doc. 102, No. 133.

On the 15 July, 1797, our Government appointed Charles C. Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, as envoys extraordinary to the French Republic, for the purpose of adjusting these difficulties. Their instructions contained the following: "The great object of the Government being to do justice to France and her citizens, in any thing we have injured them; to obtain justice for the multiplied injuries they have committed against us; and to preserve peace. Your style & manner of proceed

ing will be such as shall most directly tend to secure these objects." Doc. 102, No. 307. The result of this mission was the presentation of the following proposition, dated Nov. 8, 1797, viz: "There shall be named a commission of five members agreeably to a form to be established, for the purpose of deciding upon the reclamations of the Americans relative to the prizes made on them by the French privateers. The American Envoys will engage that their Government shall pay the indemnifications, or the amount of the sums already decreed to American creditors of the French Republic, and those shall be adjusted to the claimants by the Commissioners. This payment shall be made under the name of an advance to the French Republic who will repay it in a time & manner to be agreed on." Doc. 102, No. 310.

The above proposition was offered, for the reason that the finances of France were exhausted by the war, &, therefore, she could not pay us promptly, for the spoliations. The American Envoys refused to sanction it, as being beyond their instructions, and because England would regard it as a covert aid to France during the existing war. In a letter from Mr. Jefferson to Colonel Burr, dated June 17, 1797, the former says: "We have received a report that the French Directory has proposed a declaration of war against the United States to the Council of Ancients who have rejected it. Thus we see two nations who love one another affectionately, brought by the ill temper of their Executive Administrations to the very brink of a necessity to imbrue their hands in the blood of each other." Jefferson's Works, Vol. III, p. 358.

The mission of General Pinckney and his two associates, therefore, proved a failure, and on the 22 Oct. 1799, a second mission to France was appointed, viz: Oliver Ellsworth, William R. Davil, and William Vans Murray, which resulted in obtaining from the French negotiators, Mess. Joseph Bonaparte, Fleurien, and Roderer, a new treaty. A French National Bond was pledged in favor of the Spoliation claims, which was regarded as a liquidated acknowledged debt. That bond was placed in charge of our Government as trustee of the claimants, for collection. The United States, and wisely too, paid their debt to France with said bond; and thus relieved itself of the obnoxious treaty, and from the guarantee of the French island and the use of our ports.

'MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, edited by H. E. Scudder. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. The plan of this volume is indeed, as it has been modestly described by its editor, 'as simple as could be desired." He has taken the period designated in the title, and from books then issued has taken such accounts of contemporaneous life, as "seemed likely to furnish one with a light and intelligible view of society and persons at that time." In addition he has dipped into letters, journals and volumes of reminiscences, seeking only to depict the life and the times as seen by the people of the day. In the scores of extracts and articles given one can find all the follies, vanities, fashions, passions and humors which were possessors of men and women in those days as well as these; and the several illustrations given are in accord with the spirit of the text. book is not only readable but valuable as throwing light upon historical points that might not otherwise be understood. It fills a field altogether its own, and fills it well.

The

THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND,' by Samuel Adams Drake. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

The opening and development of the American continent is of interest, naturally, to American readers, whether the lines of information follow La Salle in his adventurous voyage across Lake Erie, De Soto pushing up the Mississippi, or John Smith in Virginia; but after all there is a peculiar and special interest that attaches to Plymouth Rock, and the founding of New England. Adventure, conquest, exploration, lay within the motives of La Salle, Cortez and De Soto, but in the Mayflower was an idea-a germ out of which the Declaration of Independence, the defiance to kings, and the American Republic were the natural results. The Revolution commenced before the shores of America were touched; it began with the Puritans' idea that man had a right to worship God after his own conscience, and was developed a little later into the more material maxim that he also possessed the right to govern himself and make choice of his own rulers. It is therefore always an entertaining quest to follow any

line of search that leads historically into the past of New England. In this book Mr. Drake has pursued a new line of information-he has shown us how New England was built, from the foundation up, adding stone by stone, and connecting one part to the other with symmetry and skill of design. Its charm lies in its manner of arrangement and treatment, while its value is in the fact that it occupies a place between the larger and the lesser histories. It is especially useful to the teacher who, engaged upon a particular topic, can read to his pupils a chapter upon the same subject, and thus fill out the bare outlines of the common textbook. The narrative fully covers the 'critical periods of discovery," exploration and settlement of New England, from the earliest days to the time when stable government, the security achieved by arms, and the development and adaptation of social or material ideas to the varied conditions of the new home, had won for the first colonists a secure foot-hold in the new world." The book is fully and admirably illustrated, and is certain to make its way along the lines of usefulness for which it was prepared.

'HALF-HOURS WITH AMERICAN HISTORY,' Vol. I. Colonial America; Vol. II. Independent America; selected and arranged by Charles Morris, author of A Manual of Classical Literature,' and 'Half-Hours with the Best American Authors.' Published by the J. B. Lippincott company, Philadelphia. Received of the Burrows Brothers company, Cleveland.

The best presentation of these valuable and interesting historical works, would consist of a quotation of their full table of contents, would space permit, as justice can hardly be done in any abridgment thereof. As will be noted in connection with the titles, the work is divided into two general groups, the one leading up to and laying the foundation for the other.

The first volume-Colonial America-is divided into six sections-the period before Columbus; the era of discovery; the era of settlement; progress of the colonies; the French and Indian war; and the threshold of the Revolution. The second volume

Independent America-is equally comprehensive and complete. Its four sections cover: The American Revolution; the Union founded aud sustained; the progress of National development; and the era of civil

war.

And the unique and comprehensive thing is that the work is not that of one man, but the fruits of the best labor and study of many. From Bancroft on The Origin of the Americans' to Long on The Last March of Lee's Army, the story is told in selections from the most eminent historians of the land-Lossing, Irving, Sparks, Headley, Everett, Greeley, Draper, Parkman, and scores of others--the selected articles "presented in chronological succession, divided into historical eras and joined by connecting links, each giving in brief outline a sketch of the intermediate events." The selections have been confined to events of special interest or importance, many of them describing those striking and dramatic scenes which have become like household words to American readers; and it has been well said of this book: "A work thus arranged may be compared to a landscape, over whose dead levels the eye ranges with a rapid glance, while constrained to rest with attention upon its elevations or features of special attractiveness." The Lippincott company, always offering something new and attractive, have performed an unusually valuable service to American history by the publication of these books.

'HISTORY OF THE SECOND ARMY CORPS, IN THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.' By Francis A. Walker, brevet brigadier-general United States volunteers. With portraits and maps. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

This elegantly printed, illustrated and bound volume of seven hundred pages is what its title describes -a history of the famous second corps and of its brilliant achievements, from the pen of one well qualified by ability and information for the task he has so well accomplished. From the Peninsula and Fair Oaks to Petersburg and Appomattox, the story is graphically told, and with a fairness and candor that must compel the respect of even those who may take issue with some of General Walker's deductions and conclusions. In addition to the history of the corps, the work embraces a vast amount of statistical and personal matter that adds not only to the interest of the story, but to the historical value as

well. It is a book that every student of the war should have.

'BEN HARDIN : HIS TIMES AND CONTEMPORARIES, WITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS Speeches. By Lucius P. Little. Received from Robert Clarke & Co., publishers, Cincinnati, Ohio. The part played by Kentucky in opening a pathway to the rich possibilities of the Mississippi valley and beyond, has always been conceded to have been honorable and important, but the fulness of its value is only understood as the modern biographer and historian study into the rich lore of the past, and give to the world the result of their investigations. The half apology Mr. Little makes for the production of this work is altogether needless. He not only gives us a mass of useful and interesting information con cerning Hardin and his associates, but also lets in many sidelights of information that suggest the directions in which deeper researches can be made. The spirit in which the author approached his work is best explained in his own language: "I have selected Mr. Hardin, of all that galaxy of great men among whom he flourished, not because he was necessarily greatest, but rather because his genius, more than that of any other, was indigenous to his age and its surroundings. He was the product of his time, imbued with its spirit, and in sympathy with its thought and sentiment. His career was a long and successful one. At its outset he became famous. Until the end-at the bar, on the stump, in state and National councils-he extended, widened and strengthened his early prestige. Always a mighty, intellectual force, he had the good fortune to impress himself and his characteristics on his day and generation as few have done." His life, from 1784 to 1852, was spent in the region that now treasures his fame among its best possessions, and he left an impress all along that long series of years. It is the best commentary upon Mr. Little's work to say that while he has approached his task in a spirit of love and admiration, he has shaded nothing, withheld nothing, and laid on not a line of color that was not deserved. The book is well written, well printed and handsomely bound and illustrated. It is, in short, one of the most important additions to the history of the great West that has been given to the public for a long time.