THE HISTORICAL MAGAZINE AND NOTES AND QUERIES CONCERNING THE ANTIQUITIES, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY OF AMERICA. VOL. IV. NEW YORK: CHARLES B. RICHARDSON & CO. 1860. PREFACE. In concluding our fourth volume, we hoped to be able to announce to our patrons an increase in the size, and still greater increase in the interest of the HISTORICAL MAGAZINE. The present season, however, admonishes the prudent not to undertake any new or extended enterprise; and we merely state here our wish and intention to do so at the earliest possible moment, and to introduce, as a new feature in the Magazine, authentic portraits, and historical views or maps. The present volume has, we trust, been a satisfactory one to all; at least, we have met, neither from the press nor individual subscribers, any complaint of its not meeting their wishes and expectations. The Diary kept at Newport, during the British occupation; the extremely valuable papers embodying the Hon. H. C. Murphy's researches at Leyden; the Documents relating to the States of Spanish origin, for which we are indebted to Buckingham Smith, Esq.; the Reminiscences of Dr. Buchanan; Habersham's Journal, and the other Revolutionary documents, from the papers of the Hon. George Bancroft; the Journal of the Siege of Quebec, with the papers specially prepared or supplied from their historic collections by our numerous and able contributors, render it certainly a valuable addition to collections of American History. The interest in historical matters is daily gaining strength: new Societies are springing into existence, older ones are reviving their sometimes dormant energies, and by their meetings and publications stimulate, while they feed this interest. Already |