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The labors of the Jesuits were the result (humanly speaking) not of design, but accident. They kept away from the missionary field until the call for help was so loud that it could not be denied or resisted. Their labors had no political significance, but were undertaken in the loftiest spirit of religious devotion.

The Indians desired the alliance with the English, and asked for their protection, but it was refused. What then was to be expected but what actually took place. The terrible consequences of the so-called French and Indian war were the direct result of the folly of our fathers. They thought in their pride to humble the growing colony at the north, but they left their frontiers open to the attacks of a savage and relentless foe.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY,

FEBRUARY MEETING, 1881.

THE first meeting of the Maine Historical Society, after the removal of its library and cabinet from Brunswick, was held at its new rooms in the city building at Portland, February 2, 1881 at 2.30 P.M., Hon. James W. Bradbury of Augusta, the president, in the chair.

All the propositions of the standing committee were approved. Messrs. Israel Washburn and George F. Talbot of Portland, and R. K. Sewall of Wiscasset, were appointed a committee to report amendments to the by-laws at the next annual meeting.

General John Marshall Brown reported that a lease had been executed, giving the society the use of the rooms assigned it in the city building for ten years.

General Brown, ex-Governor Israel Washburn and Dr. John T. Gilman were appointed to report a resolution of thanks to the city, which was subsequently adopted.

The president was authorized to appoint the various committees. Rufus K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset, then read a paper on "The Work of the Future Historians of Maine."

In the evening the formal dedication of the new rooms took place. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily cold weather there was quite a large attendance of members of the society and invited guests, including ladies. The city was represented by Mayor Senter and a large number of the City Council. At 7.30 o'clock the guests were called together by President Bradbury, who delivered an address of which the following is the substance: THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

Ladies and Gentlemen:-In the belief that a removal of the society to this city would enlist a more general co-operation in its objects and extend

its efficiency, it was resolved at a meeting held at Brunswick, November 23, to accept the generous accommodations offered by this city and remove the library to the quarters so liberally fitted up by the resident members. Is not the presence of the honored authorities of this city, and of this goodly number of its intelligent citizens an evidence of a desire and purpose that the fond anticipations of increased usefulness of the society will be fulfilled?

Since our last annual meeting, the last survivor of our original corporate members has deceased. The act of incorporation of February 5, 1822, embraced forty-nine members. Peleg Sprague, the last survivor, died on the 15th of last October. Six years ago, at a meeting held in this building, there was another of the original corporators present, the venerable Ether Shepley. When he entered, debate was suspended, and the last survivor of the original forty-nine, resident in the state, the venerable judge, was welcomed, and narrated the reasons that led to the formation of the society-the desire to collect the facts and incidents of the state's settlement and progress. After a grateful acknowledgment of Judge Shepley's presence a congratulatory dispatch was sent to Judge Sprague in Boston.

The speaker then paid a high tribute to both Judge Shepley and Judge Sprague, and continued by saying the original fortynine corporators were a remarkable body of men on account of their distinguished character, and the great age they attained.

The average age of the whole body at death was seventy-three, five exceeding ninety years and fifteen eighty. They are classed as follows: Law twenty-nine, divinity seven, medicine seven, mercantile four, gentlemen two. Amongst the lawyers we find the names of Judges Bridge, Cony, Dana, Fuller, Parris, Preble, Shepley, Sprague, Smith, Ware and Weston. At the bar, Thomas Bond, Joseph Dane, Enoch Lincoln, John Holmes, Stephen Longfellow, Reuel Williams, and William D. Williamson, the historian. The clergymen included Payson, Nichols and Tappan; the physicians, Isaac Lincoln, Ariel Mann and Benjamin Vaughan. Dr. Vaughan was formerly a member of the British Parliament, residing in London, and his wife was a daughter of Manning, the banker. He was an intimate friend of Franklin, who was for a time in London, prior to our Revolutionary war, almost an inmate of his family. During the excitement against Republicans in England in 1794, in consequence of the atrocities of the French Revolutionists, Dr. Vaughan hastily left England, and soon afterward came to this country and settled in Hallowell, where he lived for many years, a most useful and honored citizen, full of charity and good works. The merchants included General King, our first Governor, and General Wingate. Hon. Robert H. Gardiner and John Merrick were the gentlemen. Such were the men that composed our society in the beginning. And it is ap

parent from their character, that neither intellectual labor nor active business pursuits, nor the climate of Maine, are adverse to longevity. We have a state deserving a place in history, when we consider its discovery and early settlement and the thrilling events connected with it, its extensive territory and frontier position, its educational and moral culture and the character of its inhabitants. Its rigorous climate and sterile soil compel the exercise of industry, economy and perseverance. Trained by the practice of these virtues, the people it produces are characterized by self-reliance and enterprise, eminently fitting them to colonize and build up new states. They are consequently found in large numbers in nearly all the new states in the West. Wherever they are, Maine is honorably represented. We cannot vie with the West and South in the production of the great staples, but we can add to the wealth of the nation, intelligent, industrious and virtuous young men and women. While we regret their loss we can claim ours is as valuable a product as any state can boast, and that Maine is not wanting in her contribution to the wealth of the world.

What is the main object of our Society? It is to collect and preserve, as far as we are able, everything which will tend to explain and illustrate any department of civil, ecclesiastical and national history, especially that of Maine from its earliest discovery and settlement. It seeks these materials in early records, public offices, pamphlets. and documents often found in private families, about to be thrown away as worthless, or exposed to the corroding effects of time. Ours is historic ground. In Maine occurred some of the conflicts between England and France for the possession of the best part of the American continent; conflicts the most momentous of modern times in their results and influence upon the history of the world. For a time the French were in the advance. They possessed Montreal, Quebec, Louisburg, Port Royal and Castine, striving to extend their foothold on the Atlantic coast. For a century and a half this contest continued until the fall of Quebec in 1759, when Wolfe gave, with his life, the great prize to the Anglo-Saxon race. The frontier settlements in Maine were a barrier to the advance of the French, and materially aided the Massachusetts colonists in their long conflict. If the French had triumphed instead of the English, and the Atlantic slope had been settled by the Latin race with a different religious faith and different ideas of liberty and civil government, what would have been the present condition of what is known as the United States? What their religion, enterprise, prosperity and influence on the world? AngloSaxon colonization has given us the amplest liberty and protection to all, and the political principles it planted here, will, we trust, effectually guard us against usurpation and the abuse of power by rulers through the efficient checks of a written constitution. Our feeble colonies have become a great nation of fifty millions of people. It is moving forward to the position of the foremost nation of the world, challenging admiration for its wonderful progress in wealth, extent, intelligence and prosperity.

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