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PREFACE.

THIS Volume contains the proceedings of nine stated. meetings of the Society, October, 1909, to June, 1910, or one year's activity.

Among the many subjects treated at these meetings may be mentioned the following as the more important:

National: The address made by John Quincy Adams in 1841, before the Society, on the Opium War, the manuscript of which was only recently discovered among the papers of Dr. Palfrey; the description by HENRY ADAMS, of the situation in Washington in the winter of 1860-61, a paper prepared at the time when the writer was acting as secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams; the paper by the PRESIDENT on the neglect of Washington to use cavalry in the War of Independence; an examination of Thomas Paine's alleged connection with the framing of the Declaration of Independence, by ALBERT MATTHEWS; Mr. HORACE DAVIS'S account of the Oregon Trail, and Col. W. R. LIVERMORE's description of the "Campaign Around Vicksburg." Of original documents: The two broadsides on "Old Tenor," described by Mr. A. B. Page; the correspondence between

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Polk and Bancroft on the Mecklenburg Declaration, 1775, and on the Annexation of Texas, 1848; the letter of Artemas Ward on the events before Boston, 1775; the first draft of Hamilton's report on the "Constitutionality of a National Bank;" the letters of Seth Rogers, 1862–63; and political letters from Samuel Adams, Francis Corbin, Isaac Hill, and William B. Lewis.

Massachusetts: The identification, by Mr. A. McF. DAVIS, of two writers in the currency controversy; the "Massachusetts and New Hampshire Boundary Line Dispute," by Mr. J. SMITH; the paper on the " American Board of Commissioners of Customs," by Prof. CHANNING, and on the "Loss of the Custom House Records of Boston," by Mr. WARREN. Of original material: The document touching John White's Dorchester venture at Cape Ann; the series of letters on the Defense of the Frontier, 1694-95; and letters of John Hancock, James Otis, and Charles Stuart.

Col. W. R. LIVERMORE's essay on "Comparative History of Western Nations," has a more general application. Pertaining to Literary History: A poem by John Quincy Adams; a quotation from Thoreau, traced to Confucius, by the PRESIDENT; an account of William Ellery Channing and John Brown, by Mr. SANBORN, and a note on Crèvecoeur, by the same writer. The two series of letters, one from Noah Webster and the second to Joseph Willard, president of Harvard College, belong to this class of material. The critical notes on portraits by Mr. HART, Prof. WENDELL, and Mr. Bradish are

valuable, correcting misapprehensions liable to pass accepted facts.

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The Society: Memoirs of four deceased members, as follows: Theodore Ayrault Dodge, by Col. T. L. LIVERMORE; William Phineas Upham, by Mr. RANTOUL; James Madison Barker, by Governor LONG, and Egbert Coffin Smyth, by Mr. STANWOOD. Of more immediate relation to the Society are the proceedings in connection with Dr. GREEN's fiftieth anniversary of his entrance into the Society; the alteration of the By-Laws affecting the office of Editor, and the annual reports of the various officers and committees. The statement by the TREASURER of the funds of the Society is made on a new plan and in greater detail than in former years. One volume of the collections was issued in the year.

The Society has received in the past year, by gift or on deposit, an unusual number of manuscript records of which mention will be found in the stated meetings. Recognizing its responsibilities as keeper of the records given to it, the Society has employed a recognized expert to repair and bind its manuscript material, that they may be placed in a condition for study and consultation without incurring the risk of loss or damage.

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Letter of Isaac Hill, 1828

Frederick S. Blount, 1831.

NOVEMBER MEETING, 1909.

Massachusetts and New Hampshire Boundary Line Con-
troversy, 1693-1740, by J. SMITH

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Count Arese's visit to Boston, 1837, by Mr. THAYER
Colonel William Prescott; and Groton Soldiers at the Battle

of Bunker Hill, by Dr. GREEN

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