States with the Senecas was made in open violation of the settled policy of New York in dealing with them.

The final result of all the negotiations and disputes was, that very few of the Senecas or Tuscaroras removed beyond the Mississippi; and the Ogden Company, in view of the various difficulties which were raised in their path, consented to a compromise, by which the Senecas retained 52,000 acres of the 119,000 in controversy, being the two reservations which they now possess in Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. This act was what is called the treaty of 1842.

A

In consequence of these treaties of 1838 and 1842, there occurred a revolution in the Seneca tribe. They adopted something like a constitution and new laws, with a complete system of government. very valuable report made to the Legislature, January 22, 1857, from the judiciary committee of the Senate, represents the rights of the Senecas to their lands as absolute, through a series of conveyances down to that date from the State of Massachusetts, from Phelps and from Morris; and that no parties had now any pre emptive rights in their lands. Thus out of the law of 1838 and the treaty of the same year had proceeded the law of 1845 of the State of New York, which guaranteed to the Senecas their lands. So that if that treaty was evil, a power for good has been seen to proceed from things evil in this case, as in multitudes of other cases in human affairs.

I have not been so rash as to form an opinion as to the expediency or justice of these transactions with so little opportunity of studying them. The facts are many, and the documents are voluminous. So far as New York alone is concerned, I had little occasion to be solicitous. Her relations to the Indians under her jurisdiction are abundantly justified by the Society of Friends, who constituted themselves the special agents to defend their rights in this very case. In the report of the joint committee of four yearly meetings in 1847, six years after the close of the dispute, they acknowledge explicitly the kindness of New York to the Indians within her jurisdiction. They say:

"The uniform justice and compassion of New York toward the Six Nations who were located on its territory present in retrospect one of the most pleasant scenes on the pages of our history."*

It may be felt by some that these Dearborn documents refer to dead issues, and that they have no relation to the live questions of the day, and are therefore worthless. Still, if the value put upon historical researches be not a delusion, if to secure the materials by means of

* Proceedings of Joint Committee, 1847.

which to maintain the good repute and honor of a State, and thus guard against a blot upon her escutcheon, be a worthy aim, then I think that to be in possession of the complete papers of Massachusetts, acting under the authority of the United States and of New York, in a transaction where some have impugned the honor and justice of New York, is a valuable acquisition to the records of the State. If Massachusetts cared not for these papers, yet the day may come when New York may be glad to appeal to these documents, making Massachusetts to be a witness, to justify her treatment of the Indian denizens within her jurisdiction.

PROPOSED ERECTION OF LOCAL HISTORICAL

MONUMENTS.

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON ARCHEOLOGY.

[Presented April 26, 1881.]

The city of Albany has a history, in its length of record, beyond that of most of the cities of the Union, and especially interesting in the features of that history. At the time of the settlement of the river at and near this place, England was under the authoritative, and in a degree, absolute government of the Stuarts. It was just subsequent to the time of Elizabeth, and the monarch was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. Europe was old Europe then, with ways and words of rule and manner now faded out, or living in the more or less truth of coloring of books. From this interesting date of commencement, Albany, under differing names and governments and fealties of allegiance, has been a discovery, a trading post, a border fort, a frontier village, a city, and for the greater portion of its existence, on the verge of civilization, fenced in by the surroundings of savage life, when that life was in the conduct of an organized powerful Indian confederacy of tribes, skilled in their ideas of warfare. It has been a place greatly desired to be reached by conquest of savage and European war, and through all this, and out of all this, has attained what it is to-day — in the incidents and wealth and enterprise and life of a large city - the leading political capital of the north, except the place of the Federal government.

It is but an expected result of all these facts, that certain physical relics are yet here, and tradition of others is not yet obliterated. As to some of these, the only duty of the Institute is to give earnest and respectful recommendation. The conduct of preservation of them is, in its greatest features, for municipal and State authority.

Your committee understand distinctly, and their action is with this closely in view, as regulating the expression of their judgment to you, that the pecuniary question involved is the rock upon which effort at monumental memories wrecks. Large expenditures are initiated by enthusiasm, and reach a pitiable mediocrity and fail. We propose no individual effort except on the most economical basis.

There are to-day two buildings in Albany that, especially, should be preserved. The loss of them, or either of them, would be deplorable,

because the one structure is, in its architecture, a reality before our eyes of a long gone-away history, and the other is history, and of the highest class. If any word the Institute can utter, or effort it can make, can avail toward their preservation, the future will be grateful; for while any architecture can be produced it is but the will of a nation to be expressed and St. Peter's can be placed on Broadway in faithful copy-all that is of that which can be effected by moneyyet history cannot be bought. The work of time and association, only time and the ages can perform. One of these buildings is the Pemberton house, on the north-east corner of Columbia and North Pearl streets, of the date of Queen Anne's reign, while Marlborough was the invincible soldier, while Addison wrote for all time to imitate, while as yet the old race had not been supplanted by the House of Hanover, and the people of Albany knew no other sovereignty than the royal lady whom Dr. Johnson dimly remembered as in velvet; but interesting as that is, there is yet an association with its date, 1710, to us invaluable. Its construction must have been an object of interest to men who themselves had known those identified with the very first settlers of the trading post directly succeeding Hudson's discovery in the Half Moon. These old people would in the probabilities see with a kindly look another building, and over the work of the laborers thereon, while they talked about what Queen Anne and Marlborough were doing, recollect when the procedure in Holland was their home government. The architecture of the building is to-day in some features what it then was. The double door, with its smaller opening for observation, reminds us of what may now be seen in the town hall of Leyden, whose siege is of the vivid passages in Holland's history. It would be familiar to a citizen of the Low Countries. One only has to look down the street of Antwerp and he can to-day see what was ancient New York and Albany. Our bright architects can plan for us the semblance of old houses, but time charges a price which even Americans of the Pacific coast cannot pay.

Your committee have pleasure here in expressing to the Institute their grateful sense of Mr. Pemberton's intelligent appreciation of this property, and while he holds it they have no recommendation to make; but he, as all of us, will pass away, in the certainties of chronology. We would carnestly appeal, through the Institute, to the city to purchase that house and to keep it so long as the physical structure remains, as the history of what Albany was in the ancient life of its progress. Certainly they would not advise any extravagant municipal expenditure, but this is not a dangerous precedent. It can have but

few followers, and the cost can be a definite ascertained sum, and as the building would be the property of all, all might easily bear the outlay. It is in the preservation of these things that a people show their intelligence, and strangers come to see them. If any man doubts this, let him consult the expense account of our people who go to Europe. They go to see the old- the crumbling, ruined, but not obliterated past. The grandeur of all things new, and of to-day, they can see at home.

While the Schuyler Mansion is in the occupancy of the Messrs. Tracey, your committee rest satisfied; but they would appeal to the State to possess itself of the house, where the young battle-torn, independence-seeking State of New York, as early as 1777, dared, after victory on the field of battle-a battle which won to us the belief in strength which turned to us the fervor of European power — the higher moral courage of a victory over the hate of war, and where was exercised the grandeur of a hospitality to the conquered, the praise of which was uttered in the British Parliament, when such words were tribute to our civilization. It showed of what American soldiers were made. It was our triumph in the dignity of a great nation. The State may well take this house to itself and care for it. It has waited more than the century to do so. It is proof how that mansion is remembered, that so late as 1879 it was visited by a lady, a relative of General Burgoyne, who had also visited the battle field of Saratoga. We do not name other incidents in its annals, as of giving its hospitalities. to Washington, of being the scene of Alexander Hamilton's wedding, its attack by Indian raid, because in most of these features other places share the history. Nor need the expenditure be great. The price is fair subject of determination by fair authority, and the State would be the richer for such enlightened gift to history. Such acquisitions are really part of our "educational system." It is the facts of the past placed before the observation of the present without passing through the opinions or prejudices of any man.

And now your committee come to their immediate duty of presenting, through the Institute, to the consideration of the citizens of Albany its wishes respecting the memorials of localities. We, in each case, point only to a moderate expenditure. We intend the Institute shall recognize that whatever may be the warmth of our antiquarian zeal, we comprehend the cold safety of economy. We would rather that the surprise of our fellow-citizens should be at our self-restraint than at our recklessness.

First, we respectfully urge that at the north lines of the ancient stockade defense of the old city which is at, or near, the former resi