'War. Through the western route, greater and more efficient assistance will be afforded, in times of emergency, to the states and naval establishments upon the Gulf, than through the other routes.'

• Transportation of the mail. As to time, we are inclined to believe that the middle route has the advantage over the others; as to expense, it will be less upon the middle, and especially upon the western, than upon the eastern; as to horses, the service of the mail will be better and more cheaply secured upon the middle route, and especially upon the western, than upon the eastern,'

We have thus endeavored to present a rapid sketch of the more prominent projects for internal improvement, which have engaged the attention of the general government during the last few years. Some steps have been taken, with respect to all of them. Those to which the aid of the general government has been extended in the way of subscriptions, were mostly already in a state of advancement; and this aid has been granted with the understanding, that it is sufficient to complete them. In the other cases, preliminary surveys only have been authorized, which are either finished, or will be soon. All these surveys have been made, or are making, under the superintendence of persons officially responsible to the nation, of acknowledged skill and experience, and having valuable reputations to maintain; and we believe that public confidence may safely repose on their correctness. They will enable the competent authorities to determine, with the most satisfactory precision, the practicability and probable cost of each work, and to commence it with every reasonable assurance of success.

With respect to the general sentiment of the nation, we are inclined to think it is in harmony with the liberal and national spirit in which these projects have originated; and we moreover believe, that they all will ultimately be accomplished, and without disturbing the chartered rights of any state, or embarrassing the resources of the country. The age is advancing in improvements, and the United States, with their moral and intellectual attainments, cannot lag behind it. The impulse is irresistible, and must be yielded to. A nation, which regulates its own government, granting or withdrawing power according to its own free will, cannot quietly sit down under restraints, which impair its strength, comforts, and dignity.

The constitutional doctrine, to the extent laid down in Mr Monroe's Message to Congress on the third of December, 1823, when recommending to its attention the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, appears now to be settled, at least so far as repeated decisions of the general government, founded upon large and increasing majorities of Congress, can establish it. And it will be recollected that Mr Monroe, in conformity with the opinions of Mr Madison, was an advocate of only a restricted power in the general government over internal improvement. The passage to which we would call attention is the following; 'Believing, as I do, (says Mr Monroe) that Congress possess the right to appropriate money for such a national object [alluding to the Chesapeake and Ohio canal], the jurisdiction remaining with the states through which the canal would pass, I submit it to your consideration,' &c. Greater latitude of power is contended for by a respectable and growing party in Congress; but even under this qualified grant, we should anticipate no impediment to the execution of the various improvements which have been proposed. The national road to New Orleans, will doubtless be the exclusive work of the general government. There are no apparent inducements for either states or corporate companies to undertake it. It is for general and not local purposes, and naturally falls under that provision of the constitution, which relates to the transportation of the mail. The Cumberland road, so far as it extended at first, must be regarded in the same light, and although its continuation through the Northwestern states, may appear only a fulfilment of the compact with those states, yet it must likewise be considered as fulfilling the same important provision of the constitution. Until that great avenue was opened, it could not be said, that the Western states enjoyed those facilities of communication with the seat of government, which they had a right to claim under the constitution, and which the general welfare demanded. Nor can it with more reason be said, that the Southwestern states, separated as they are from the common centre by unsettled and almost impassable districts, enjoy those mail privileges, which they are entitled to under the constitution, and which the public interest requires should be extended to every important section of the Union.

The Chesapeake and Ohio canal has already the highest sanction of every state through which it will pass; and the aid of the general government has been invited by all of them. Subscription books have been opened by a company, the joint cor

poration of three states, and the district of Columbia; and as soon as the surveys and estimates are completed, there will be wanting nothing but the determination of the general government as to the amount of that aid, to give a beginning to the great undertaking. Should the continuation of this canal to Lake Erie, through Ohio, be likely to encounter opposition from the interests of that state, so largely vested in its own parallel work, it is probable that an equally eligible route will be ascertained, by the surveys, to exist within the limits of Pennsylvania.

But we have not space for further enlargement on this subject; more especially for the reflections which crowd on the mind, while contemplating it. The bounties of nature are lavishly spread around us; but it is known, that the skill and industry of man can improve them a thousand fold. There is a wisdom, a grandeur, in the policy, which would give the strongest impulse, the highest direction, to this skill and industry; and we should feel the deepest regret, nay, our pride in our country would be humbled, if we believed that its institutions, instead of being compatible with this beneficent policy, had a tendency to repress and crush it. In regard to national and state rights, we believe no course of policy could produce a more just balance between them. Those measures, which efficaciously tend to make the whole thriving, powerful, and united, cannot but benefit every part.

ART. II.-The History of New England from 1630 to 1649; by JOHN WINTHROP, first Governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; from his Original Manuscripts. With Notes to illustrate the Civil and Ecclesiastical Concerns, the Geography, Settlement, and Institutions of the Country, and the Lives and Manners of the principal Planters. By JAMES SAVAGE. 2 vols. 8vo. Boston. Phelps & Farnham.

TILL within a few years, the history of our own country was the last object which engaged the attention of American scholars. The study of that history formed no part of our system of education either at school or at college, and the voluntary perusal of it at a subsequent period of life, was considered the business of a mere antiquary rather than of a well informed American citi

zen.

This neglect of so important a subject certainly redounded little to our credit, and has been condemned by many as a sure and strong indication of a want of patriotism. We ascribe it to a very obvious and much less censurable cause, the character of those works in which our own history is written. As these are much more remarkable for accuracy and impartiality, than for elegance of style and philosophical research, the general and undiscriminating neglect, with which they have been treated, though far from justifiable, is, on the whole, not surprising. These remarks, which are not to be understood without qualification or exception, may be applied particularly to our colonial history. The 19th of April 1775 seemed to be often considered as the birthday of our nation. not only in many, but in all respects, and our condition before that period was regarded as a state of preexistence. It is only of late, that we have learned to trace our present free and happy condition, to its remote as well as its proximate causes, to acknowledge our obligations not only to the statesmen and soldiers, who conducted the war of independence, but to those sages from whom we derived the principles, institutions, and habits, which render independence desirable.

Of all the tribes of hardy adventurers, who laid the foundation of our widely extended nation, there are none who have been alike censured and applauded with so little discrimination, as the pilgrim fathers of New England. Their characters have been sometimes held up as models of almost supernatural excellence, but they have more generally been depicted in far different colors; and there were many among us who seemed to be ignorant of almost every event which occurred in Massachusetts during the seventeenth century, except the destruction of the aborigines, the persecution of the Quakers, and the execution of the witches. Slight and vague impressions are now happily giving way to correct and circumstantial knowledge, and the early history of this state is becoming an object of great and constantly increasing interest. A complete and elegant history of Massachusetts is yet a desideratum, but the want of such a work has been supplied in no inconsiderable degree, by the ability and eloquence with which the principles and institutions of the pilgrims have been portrayed in less voluminous productions.

Those, however, who would become thoroughly acquainted with the character of our forefathers, must study their works; and we need hardly state the fact, that no men ever left behind them more accurate and impartial accounts of their own conduct.

All their actions, even those which are now most condemned and regretted, are narrated with equal unreserve and minuteness; and however we may occasionally lament their prejudice or passion, every line of their writings bears indisputable testimony to their sincerity and frankness. Among all the works of that period, there is none of a more extraordinary or interesting description than the book before us. An exact journal of the first governor of Massachusetts Bay, embracing the history of the country between the years 1630 and 1649, is manifestly a document so singularly desirable, that, in other countries, and under other circumstances, its authenticity would be subjected to no slight suspicion. In this age of literary scepticism, indeed, we know not whether it will even now be universally admitted, and should not be surprised at an elaborate argument from some humble disciple of the school which has argued so strenuously against the existence of Homer, showing that the book before us is the production not of one, but of a hundred hands, that its supposed author never existed, and that John Winthrop was not the name of an individual, but a general title of all the governors of Massachusetts during the seventeenth century. As no such question has yet been started, we may be permitted to express our gratification, at seeing the whole of this work presented to the public for the first time in a complete form, and our obligations, shared by the whole community, to its present able and learned editor. The first volume was published at Hartford, in 1790, from the manuscripts in possession of Governor Winthrop's descendants. The manner in which the remaining portion of the work was brought to light, as well as the reasons which led to a revised copy of the whole, will appear in the following extract from Mr Savage's Preface.

Early in the spring of 1816 was discovered, in the tower of the Old South Church in Boston, the third volume of the History of New England, in the original MS. of the author, John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay. When the precious book was presented to the Massachusetts Historical Society, at their next meeting, 25 April, the difficulty of transcribing it for the press seemed to appal several of the most competent members, whose engagement in more important duties afforded also a sufficient excuse for leaving such labor to be undertaken by any one, at any time, who could devote to it many weeks of leisure. The task appeared inviting to me. On the same evening the MS. was taken, and the study of its chirography was begun, the next day, VOL. XXIV.NO. 54.

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