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    The History of the United States of North America , from the Plantation of the British Colonies , till their Revolt and Declaration of Independence . By James Graham e , Esq . 4 Vols . London . Smith , Elder , and Co . 183 G .

    While various valuable works on America are making us better acquainted with its present condition , we have hitherto been left in comparative ignorance as to the foundation of those States , which we now contemplate with so much interest . Yet , to acquire a correct understanding of their institutions , or to form an impartial estimate of the national character , such

    knowledge is indispensable ; and it may be acquired with certainty in the present instance ; for , unlike the early history of most nations , the very beginnings of civilised society in America may be accurately traced . There is no uncertainty or fable . Nothing has been wanting but an historian , who , capable of laborious research , would collect the scattered materials and combine them into one connected narrative .

    The w hole series of events may then be followed in order , beginning from the first discovery of the coast by Cabot ; and the first attempts at colonization by the enterprising genius of Raleigh ; going onto the foundation of one settlement after another ; detailing the progress of their political and social institutions , and the interference of the parent state with each , for good , or for evil ; and ending at length in the revolution which made of the United States a great and independent republic . Mr . Graham has undertaken this task , and in his laborious and elaborate work , he has given to the world the results of long and careful research , and has apparently consulted every authority capable of throwing light on his subject . Finding the public libraries in this country amazingly scanty of the materials he wanted , he undertook for this purpose , in the year 1825 , a journey to Gottingen ; and he

    adds" In the library of this place , as I had been taught to expect , I found a richer treasury of North American literature , than any , or indeed all of the libraries of Britain could at that time supply . From the resources of the Gottingen library , and the liberality with which its administrators have always been willing to render it subservient to the purposes of literary inquiry , I derived great advantage and assistance . I am indebted also to the private collections of various individuals in England and France , for the perusal of some very rare and not less valuable and interesting works illustrative of the subject of my labours . To particularize all the persons who have thus or otherwise assisted rny exertions , and enriched my slock , of materials , would weary rather than interest the reader , —whom it less imports to know what opportunities I have had , than what use I have made of them . Yet I must be indulged in one grateful allusion to the advantage I have enjoyed in the communications which I have had the

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1836, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2657/page/36/