HISTORICAL RECORD.

[By sending to the editor brief contributions suitable for use in this department, readers will greatly add to its completeness and value.]

Maine:

Dec. 22.—Meeting of the Maine Historical Society in Portland, President James W. Bradbury in the chair. A communication from Curtis M. Sawyer, of Mechanics Falls, called attention to the fact that traces of Indian settlements in Maine are now disappearing, and suggested that some means should be taken to mark sites of Indian villages and shell-heaps. The Rev. Henry O. Thayer read a paper on Popham colony. E. H. Elwell read a paper on the "British View of the Ashburton Treaty, and the Northeastern Boundary Question;" the Hon. Joseph Williamson on "The Rumored French Invasion of Maine in 1798;" the Rev. Dr. Burrage on "Additional Facts concerning George Waymouth;" Dr. Charles E. Banks on "The Administration of William Gorges from 1636 to 1637." The original diploma of the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by George Washington and General Knox, was exhibited by Thomas L. Talbot. B. F. Stevens, of London, who has for many years collected documents relating to the Revolution, and negotiations of that period, requested that the attention of Congress be called to these manuscripts, and an effort be made to have the government purchase them. It was voted to refer the matter to a standing committee with power. It was also voted that the subject relating to the limits of Indian towns be left to a standing committee.

Massachusetts:

Dec. 21.—Forefather's Day was appropriately celebrated in many places. At Plymouth, addresses were delivered by Hon. Thomas Russell, President of the Pilgrim Society, James Russell Lowell, Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., Dr. Henry M. Dexter, Judge Charles Levi Woodbury, and others.

Dec. 22.—Dedication of new public library building in Chelsea, the gift of Eustace C. Fitz. An eloquent dedicatory address was delivered by James Russell Lowell.

Dec. 24.—Streets of Lawrence lighted for the first time by the incandescent electric light.

Jan. 6.—Annual meeting of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Marshall P. Wilder was re-elected President, and Grover Cleveland was made an honorary member. The following were elected to fill vacancies in the old board of officers: Vice-president, Horace Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vt.; honorary vice-presidents, Charles C. Jones, of Savannah, Ga., and W. F. Mallalieu, of New Orleans, La.; director, John F. Andrew, of Boston; committee on heraldry, John K. Clarke, of Needham; committee on library, Walter Adams, of Framingham; committee on papers and essays, Waldo Burnett, of Southboro, Alexander Williams, of Boston. The report of the treasurer showed: Income of the past year, $3,637.92; expenditures, $3,510.61; present balance, $127.31; total of the building fund, $25,028.19; total of all funds, $66,610.23. The librarian's report showed: Addition of books by purchase, 121; by gift, 401; present total, 20,778; pamphlets purchased, 30; gifts, 1848. Present total, 64,604. Nathaniel F. Safford offered a resolution of thanks to Mr. Wilder for his services in general to the society, and in particular for his persevering personal efforts during the past few years by which he has obtained, not merely the subscriptions of his friends, but the payment thereof for the building fund of the society, so that the money, about $25,000, is now on deposit, and at the society's disposal. The resolution was adopted unanimously by a rising vote.

Meeting of Massachusetts Legislature. President Pillsbury of the Senate, Speaker Brackett, of the House, and Clerks Gifford and Mr. Laughlin were re-elected. Captain J. G. B. Adams, of Lynn, was elected Sergeant-at-Arms.

Dec. 12.—Annual meeting of the Bostonian Society. The following were chosen directors for the coming year: Thomas C. Amory, William S. Appleton, Thomas J. Allen, Joshua P. Bodfish, Curtis Guild, John T. Hassam, Hamilton A. Hill, Samuel H. Russell, and William Wilkins Warren. The report on the library showed a total of 520 volumes, and many pamphlets not yet enumerated, being an addition of 184 volumes, and 126 pamphlets during the year. The report of the treasurer showed: Balance of last year, $3,857.85; receipts, to make a total of $4,736.65; expenditures, to leave a present balance of $1,992.23. It was announced that Mr. D. T. V. Huntoon, the secretary and treasurer, declined a re-election, being about to take a journey for the benefit of his health. The vacancy was not filled.

Jan. 14.—Monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr. Green, as one of the executors of the will of John Langdon Sibley, read that part of the will in which he has constituted this society the residuary legatee of nearly all his estate. This amount is by far the largest sum of money ever given or bequeathed to the society, and will place the name of Sibley among the greatest benefactors of historical research. It was voted that a committee consisting of Judge Hoar, Mr. Cobb, and Professor E. C. Smyth be appointed to consider and report to the society what action should be taken in view of this munificent bequest.

Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr., communicated thirty-two letters, written between 1693 and 1699, from General Lord Cutts to Colonel Joseph Dudley, then lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, and afterward governor of Massachusetts. They contain incidental reference to William of Orange, and many public men of that period, as well as to the campaign of the allied army in Flanders, and the evident sincerity and soldierly bluntness of the writer renders them quite entertaining. Lord Cutts was not merely a famous commander, but a poet, and his verses are quoted by Horace Walpole. Mr. Winthrop expressed a desire to learn where a picture of him might be found, and he discussed the authority and probable date of various portraits of Governor Joseph Dudley, and his wife, Rebecca Tyng.

Mr. Appleton spoke of the flag carried by the minute-men of Bedford to Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, a photograph of which had been exhibited at the last meeting. It was originally designed in England in 1660-70 for the three county troops of Massachusetts, and became one of the accepted standards of the organized militia of this State, and as such was used by the Bedford company. Mr. Appleton said that in his opinion this flag far exceeds in historic value the famed flag of Eutaw and Pulaski's banner, and, in fact, is the most precious memorial of its kind of which we have any knowledge.

The Hon. R. C. Winthrop presented from the Hon. John Bigelow, of New York, late minister to France, and author of an elaborate life of Franklin, five old maps, on one of which the name of this city is spelled Baston, and on another Briston.

Mr. Windsor made a communication in reference to a ditch and embankment found in Weston, at the confluence of Stony Brook and Charles River, which indicate, it has been lately said, that a trading post and fort were erected there by the French in the early part of the sixteenth century. He gave reasons for the opinion that these relics may mark the site of an early attempt to found the town of Boston there, since soon after the arrival of Winthrop at Salem he set out for Charlestown, whence, with a party, he explored the neighboring rivers for a convenient spot to found their town, and discovered such a place "three leagues up Charles River." Dr. Palfrey, who seems not to have known of the existence of these remains, says that the spot must have been somewhere in Waltham or Weston, and most likely near the mouth of Stony Brook.

Mr. Winsor also read a paper in which he referred to a statement which had appeared in several popular histories, that, during the eight years of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen colonies sent two hundred and thirty-two thousand men to the Continental army. He traced the origin of this extravagant statement. In 1790, General Knox, then Secretary of War, presented to President Washington a report on the number of troops furnished during the war. He showed the number credited to the several States, making no distinction between those who served for a shorter or a longer period, and he did not tabulate his separate statements for each year into one including the whole war. This was done, however, in the first volume of the New Hampshire Historical Society's collections, and the error was copied by many subsequent publications. It was afterwards said in explanation, that these figures denoted enlistments or years of service, and not men. The truth of the matter is that these figures are worthless as representing the number of men which made up the Continental line, or the years of actual service, and their only value is as enabling us approximately to judge how much more or less relatively one State contributed than another to the military force that gained our independence.

Rhode Island:

Dec. 17.—The committee appointed by the Providence City Council to consider what action should be taken by the city government for the proper observance of its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, submitted its report. The committee is of the opinion that the celebration should consist of a festival lasting two days. It is recommended that the first day be devoted to literary and historical exercises in the First Baptist Meeting-House, with an historical address giving a complete history of the city, together with appropriate odes, poems, and music. The committee recommends that on the second day there be a grand trades procession representative of the past and present industries of Providence; also an elaborate military and civic parade; that, in the afternoon, balloon ascensions, band concerts, and other amusements be provided for the people, and that the celebration be brought to a termination by a grand display of fireworks in the evening. As the best historical authorities name the date of the founding of Providence as between the 20th and 25th of June, the committee is of the opinion that the 23d and 24th should be selected. This suggestion is made also in view of the fact that the 24th of June will be observed as a festival day by the French residents, and the Masonic Fraternity. It is proposed that the city appropriate $10,000 for the observance, and that the State legislature be requested to make a further appropriation of $5,000.

Connecticut:

Jan. 6.—The Legislature organized by electing Stiles T. Stanton, President pro tem. of the Senate, and John T. Tibbets, of New London, as Speaker of the House.

The article on the Wayte family, in the January number of the New England Magazine, has provoked much pleasant comment in Lyme, the birthplace and summer home of Chief Justice Waite, and New London, the residence of Hon. John T. Wait.

The History of Hartford County in two splendid volumes, press of Ticknor & Co., of Boston, is now being printed, and will be ready for delivery in a few weeks.

Vermont:

Six young men, playing Spanish mandolins, guitars, and harps, says the Chicago Herald, Jan. 18, sat in the balcony of one of the banquet halls at Kinsley's last evening. Below the musicians, and seated at an E-shaped table were two hundred and fifty elderly gentlemen, members of the Illinois Association of the Sons of Vermont, who were destroying their ninth annual banquet. Pots filled with pork and beans, huge pumpkin pies, and large blocks of brown bread were spread before the banqueters. Glass fruit-dishes piled high with ruddy winter apples and little dishes overflowing with cracked hickory nuts came later, and then all these good things were washed down with cider and claret. The toasts were: "Vermont," H. N. Hibbard; "Clergymen of Vermont," Rev. G. N. Boardman; "Stumps of Vermont," E. B. Sherman; "The Star that never sets," W. W. Chandler. After the speech-making, Jules Lombard, robed in black and wearing a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles upon the breast of his Prince Albert coat, sang "America" and a pretty Scottish serenade. Among those present were E. G. Keith, II, P. Kellogg, O. S. A. Sprague, R. S. Smith, Gen. H. H. Thomas, H. N. Hibbard, George Chandler, Harvey Edgerton, Dr. C. N. Fitch, E. A. Jewett, Col. Arba N. Waterman, E. B. Sherman, John M. Thatcher, A. W. Butler, Frank Deinson, H. N. Nash, John M. Southworth, George W. Newcombe, and S. W. Burnham.