66 to New York in the autumn of same year. October 26th, he was at Providence, and says: "The post route now crosses five ferries between Naragansett and Providence (two of them dangerous in winter)." At New London, 7th of November, he says: the road is one continued bed of rocks, and very hilly." November 11th, he says: "Finding it would be convenient to have an hour's conversation with the Western rider, I set out for Saybrook, and arrived there about two o'clock. I found the road pretty good from the rope-ferry, where I found old Herd (Hurd), the Western rider, waiting Mumford's arrival; he had been here three hours; it is very uncustomary for the riders to be detained at this season, but I conclude he finds it impossible to pass at the Rhode Island ferries, from high contrary winds. This man Herd (Hurd), at 72, is strong and robust; he has been in the service forty-six years; he pretends that he makes nothing by it, and says 'he will give it up-that at present he only rides for his health's sake, which induces him to keep it.' It is well known that he has made an estate by his riding, and, it is said, in the following way: Way-letters he makes his own perquisite, or rather, he has done so in former times. At present each office checks him a little. He does much business on the road on commission; he is a publick carrier, and loads his horse with merchandise for people living in his route; he receives cash and carry's money backwards and forwards, takes care of return'd horses, and in short refuses no business however it may affect his speed as post." * * * At New Haven, Finlay writes: "It is a large flourishing Sea Port Town. Went to the Post-Office (Christopher Kilby, postmaster). Examined his books: questioned him and found that he understands his business thoroughly; he laments that he cannot put the Acts of Parliament in force. He complains much of the Post riders; says they come loaded with bundles, packages, boxes, canisters, &c-every package has a letter affixed to it, which the rider claims as his own property and perquisite: nay sometimes a small bundle of chips, straw or old paper accompanying a seal'd packet or large letter, and the riders insist that such letters are exempted from postage. The riders have told Mr. Kilby that the Devil might ride for them if these way letters and packets were to be taken from them. In short they come so loaded that it is impossible for them to come in time. The Portmanteaus seldom come locked: the consequence is that the riders stuff them with bundles of shoes, stockings, canisters, money or anything they get to carry, which tears the Portmanteaus, and rubs the letters to pieces-this should be prevented by locking the mails."-Journal kept by Hugh Finlay. SIGNATURES TO THE PEACE TREATY OF 1764 THE SENECAS WITH SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON General Gage, writing from New York to the Earl of Halifax, on the 14th of April, 1764, said: "Since closing the Mail, I have received letters from Sir Will liam Johnson to acquaint me that the Chenusios and many Senecas had been with him several days, and after considering the terms of Peace demanded, they had at length agreed to them beyond his expectation. For his Majesty's particular information, I transmit your lordship herewith a copy of these 'Preliminary Articles,' forwarded to me by Sir W'm Johnson, who also adds, that they show an apparent eagerness, as do all the rest of the Five Nations who were present, to go against our Enemies."-New York Col. Doc. VII. 621-623. The accompanying fac-simile of the signatures to these "Preliminary Articles of Peace, Friendship and Alliance" between the Senecas and Sir William Johnson, which were forwarded to the Earl of Halifax by General Gage, as stated in the Given under my Hand at Johnson Hall, the third Jagaanadie a Sayenqueraghta Kaanijes X ← Wanughsifsal Z Jaganoon die Um Johnson Aughnawawis Taanjagua above letter, has recently been traced for the first time from the original document now in the British office at London, and through the courtesy of General C. W. Darling, of the Oneida Historical Society, is presented to the readers of the Magazine. It is of special interest in connection with subsequent events, some of which are revealed through the letter of Hon. James Duane to Governor Clinton, published in the Department of Original Documents. THE SWEETS OF HISTORICAL STUDY The search for knowledge is in itself compensating. The way to almost every other good is simply troublesome, and the recompense in the end. But study is a joy from the beginning, onward and forever. With what genuine delight the scholar turns every new leaf! What variety and wealth and freshness ever waiting to be garnered. Other artisans do but practice on what they have learned, running in the same groove to weariness. The scholar continues to find that which is fresh and attractive. Other labors require recreation; the labors of the scholar are his perfect recreatior. There is no one subject at the present time eliciting more universal attention than that of history. It is commonly defined the sum of human events, and yet it is much more. It lies at the root of all science, and is the first distinct product of man's spiritual nature, his earliest expression of what is called thought. There has never been a nation or tribe so rude that it has not attempted history in some form, even though it had not arithmetic enough to count time. History has been engraved on stone, wrought into wood and ivory, manufactured from clay, built into pyramids and palaces, written with quipo-threads, with feather pictures, and with wampum belts, and preserved in earth mounds, and in monumental stone-heaps. The talent for history is the birthright of all. It is, indeed, our chief inheritance. In a certain sense every individual is a historian. Our very speech is curiously historical How few persons we meet as we pass along the journey of life who in talking do not narrate? It is not that they necessarily impart what they have had in their minds, but they disclose what they have experienced or seen, which is no small nor trifling matter. Deprived of the story, how soon the stream of conversation begins to languish, even among the wisest! We are all constantly enacting history. In our every-day language we recite history. Our intellects are stored with history. For, strictly speaking, all knowledge is recorded experience. Memory is but the treasury house of annals. Study, and especially historical study, opens to us a thousand avenues of pastime and of happiness. If we would climb to an enviable place in scholarship, persistence, the twin companion of study, will assist materially in the achievement. The clouds shed not their rain in floods but in drops; we are never rich, or great, or learned all at once, though gently and by successive steps the most dizzy heights may be reached. Study may be made the whole business of a life; or a part of each day may be assigned to the sweet pleasure. Three hundred and sixty-five hours in a year devoted to the accumulation of historical knowledge could not fail to bring with it bountiful results. It is a notable fact that the heaviest or severest subjects of thought are the least exhausting to the thinker. This may be a singular paradox, but it is established through the philosophy of mind and the experience of every true learner. Mathematicians, theologians, and metaphysicians, as well as historians, have, as a rule, been able to endure more unremitting and protracted labor, with less harmful results, than poets and novelists. Isaac Newton could spend twice as many hours of the day, for months in succession, in the profoundest problems of pure mathematics as Walter Scott could give to the composition of what is called light reading. One of our modern historians has been known to devote to close study and composition from ten to twelve hours per day on an average for eighteen months in succession, and suffer no injury what Many great students have been accustomed when fatigued with the labor of deep rreaches, or exhausted by a continuous train of thought on any one subject, to relax the mind with geometrical problems. ever. The study of history is absorbing; it comforts the lonely, it is a safeguard against lassitude, it drowns grief. For the young men and women in our schools and colleges its usefulness can never be over-estimated or its practical results adequately measured. Dr. Franklin traced his successful career to Cotton Mather's essays, which fell into his hands when a boy. Cicero tells us how his eloquence caught inspiration from a constant study of the Latin and Grecian poetry. Pompey never undertook any considerable enterprise without concentrating his thoughts upon the character of Achilles in the first Iliad; although he acknowledged that the enthusiasm he caught came rather from the poet than the hero. Bossuet, before composing a funeral oration, always retired for several days to his study and pored over the pages of Homer. Cobbett, at eleven, bought Swift's Tale of a Tub, and it produced what he called "a birth of intellect." An odd volume of Racine, picked up at a stall on the quay, made a poet of Toulon. Original thinkers are the most ready to acknowledge their indebtedness to history, and to the wisdom which has been hived in books through all decades of the past. The sensation of well-directed study-particularly that of history-is in almost every instance one of rapture. And this rapture or enthusiasm is within the reach of every one who acquires the taste, and will cultivate continuity of attention and the art of reading for the best possible results. We have been truly told "The greatest genius is he who consumes the most knowledge and converts it into mind." POLITICAL AMERICANISMS* III (Continued from page 99, vol. xiii.) COWBOY.-Now applied exclusively to western herdsmen, but originally to the Tory partisans of Westchester County, New York, during the Revolution, and in 1861 to semi-secessionists in New England. CRAWFISH. To retire, gracefully or otherwise, to “back out." Evidently derived from the habit of the crawfish, which, when attacked on land, walks backward, with its biting claws raised before it for defense. CRÉDIT MOBILIER.-The name by which "The Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency" was popularly known. This corporation was in brief a construction company for the Union Pacific Railroad. Banks of Crédit Mobilier in France are designed to aid all industrial enterprises, hence the adoption of the phrase in the present case. The scandal with which it is connected in this country occurred during the 42d Congress, and several members of the House were charged with having been improperly influenced by representatives of the company. Except in the cases of two (both of whom died within three months after the vote of censure was passed upon them), the charges were not sustained by the House. but affiliating at that time with the Democratic faction it assumed the compound title which it still claims. The party overthrew the Federalists in 1800, electing Jefferson to the Presidency, and remained in power until 1848, when it was defeated by the Whigs and Free-Soilers. (See Republicans.) 66 DIRT.-" To eat dirt" is to retract or eat humble pie." ELECTORAL COMMISSION.-In order to decide between disputed election returns sent from Florida, Louisiana, Oregon and South Carolina, during the Presidential campaign of 1876, a special tribunal was created by Congress, January 29th, 1877, under the above title. As appointed by Congress, it consisted of four Justices of the Supreme Court (2 Republicans and 2 Democrats), five Senators (3 Rep., 2 Dem.), and five Representatives (2 Reps., 3 Dem.). The four Justices were directed to select a fifth, whose district was specified, though he was not named. The Hon. David Davis, of Illinois, would, in the natural order, have been chosen, and upon his vote in the commission the Democrats confidently counted. Just as the commission was organized, however (January 25th, 1877), Judge Davis was elected to the United States Senate, and thereby disqualified from serving on the Commission. The eligible Justices were all Republicans, and the Hon. Joseph P. Bradley was chosen. Upon him, therefore, fell the weighty responsibility of the casting-vote on matters which the National Congress had confessed itself unable to decide, and which threatened to precipitate a civil war. It is impracticable here to give a detailed account of what followed. A good summary will be found in "Lalor's Cyclopedia of Political Science," and the proceedings are published in full in the "Congressional Record," Part IV., Vol. V., 1877. In brief, the * Copyright by Charles Ledyard Norton, 1885. " CROW." To eat crow means to recant, or to humiliate oneself. To "eat dirt is nearly equivalent. The story from which the phrase is drawn recites that an American who crossed the Niagara River to shoot on an Englishman's land, was caught by the proprietor just after he had shot a crow, and was compelled on peril of his life to eat the bird. "I kin eat crow, but I don't hanker arter it," was his comment when twitted about the occurrence afterward. DEMOCRATS.-Democratic-Republican is the full official designation of this great party. It was by a suggestive coincidence, originally, and until 1828-30, known as the Republican Party, |