the Kingdom of Macassar, he is about 50 years old, a tall lusty man with a good bold looke. I saw some hospitals which are in all to the number of 50, for men women & children, that the Charity of Amsterdam is reckoned by some to equall the charity of the greatest part of France; for besides these publique houses which are well endowed, it is ordinary for great marchants upon the safe arrivall of their vessells to give two or 300 pounds to the poors purse. I saw the Exchange, their Bedlam, Spinhouse, Rasphouse & Stadthouse, which is to noble to bee attempted to bee described. My time was but short for these Gentlemens occasions called them to the Hague, so we left Amsterdam that Monday & came to Harlem the same night; the next morning Wee had just time to see the Stadthouse where are all the Earls of Holland painted, & the Earle of Hollands house, an old building where is some rare pieces of painting; above all one foot of a man which the Prince of Toscany offred 1500 pistols to cutt out from the piece; in the garden is the picture of him that they pretend to have invented printing first, one Maurice Castoreus, a gentleman of Haarlem in the year 1440. I saluted Mons' Casteline the Gazetteer here from yo! Wor? who is full of all estime & respect for yo! Wor. Wee left Haarlem that morning, wee past by those fields that are so famous for whitening of linnen, whether send all theirs, that all the summer time there bee many thousand Acres all covered, & here is a great wood which is the nearest they have to Amsterdam for the Citizens to come & divert themselves. Wee passed over the 3 great sluces that divide the salt & sweet sea, & came to the Hague on tuesday night. I shall in obedience to yo! Wor?s commands sett forward for London on Saturday next. I hope to see Leyden & Roterdam in the way. I am, most Honoured S!

HAGUE 2 Febr 72.

Your Worp most obedient & faithfull servant

J. VERNON.

AUGUST MEETING.

A stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this day, Thursday, the 12th of August; Vice-President ASPINWALL, in the absence of the President, in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the record of the last meeting. In the absence of the Librarian, the donations for the past month were announced by the Recording Secretary.

Among those especially noticed, was a copy of "The Official Correspondence on the Claims of the United States in respect to the Alabama,'" London, 1867,-presented by Mr. Adams. In reference to this publication, Mr. ADAMS remarked that it does not contain all the correspondence relating to the "Alabama" in which he took part, as the date upon the titlepage of the volume would indicate. It was published by Lord Russell in vindication of himself.

The thanks of the Society were presented to Mr. Adams for the gift.

A copy of the original picture of the old house in Dock Square, built in 1680, and a copy of Paul Revere's picture of the Boston Massacre, were presented to the Society by Mr. William H. Keith, of Charlestown, for which the thanks of the Society were ordered.

Mr. WHITNEY read the following letter from Captain G. V. Fox, lately the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, addressed to Mr. Winthrop:

Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP,

LOWELL, MASS., July 10th, 1869.

President Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Mass.

SIR, - Mr. H. A. Whitney, a member of your Society, is kind enough to inform me that it will be agreeable to yourself and associates to receive for preservation a number of rebel flags, which have been saved from those acquired during the rebellion by the navy under the administration of Mr. Welles.

Accordingly I have sent to him, for presentation to the Massachusetts Historical Society, eight flags, numbered and described as follows:

No. 1. The flag of Fort Walker, Hilton Head, Port Royal, South Carolina. Captured by the naval forces under the command of Rear-Admiral S. F. Dupont, Nov. 7, 1861.

No. 2. A flag found amongst the property abandoned after the above action. It is supposed to be the State flag of South Carolina.

Captured by the naval

No. 3. The flag of Fort Henry, Tennessee River. forces under the command of Rear-Admiral A. H. Foote, Feb. 6, 1862.

No. 4. The flag of Fort St. Philip, Mississippi River. Captured after the memorable forcing of the defences to New Orleans by the navy, under Admiral D. G. Farragut, April 24, 1862.

No. 5. The new flag adopted by the rebels in 1863. Captured by a naval force under the command of Commodore John Rodgers, June 17, 1863. An interesting letter from that distinguished officer, describing the capture of the ironclad "Atlanta," is enclosed.

No. 6. The flag of the iron-clad "Tennessee." Captured by a naval force under the command of Admiral D. G. Farragut, on the day of his successful entrance into Mobile Bay, Aug. 5, 1864.

No. 7. The admiral's flag of the rebel Buchanan, who commanded the "Tennessee" in the above action.

No. 8. The flag of Fort Caswell, left flying upon the flagstaff of that fort, after its evacuation, consequent upon the capture of the defences of Cape Fear River by the United-States forces, under the command of Vice-Admiral D. D. Porter and Major-General A. H. Terry.

These are truly the flags which were forwarded to Washington, with the official reports announcing the victories which are enumerated. They were placed at my disposal by the Department, because it was deemed unadvisable to preserve at the National Capitol the evidences of internecine strife.

Most respectfully your obedient servant,

G. V. Fox.

The letter of Commodore John Rodgers, referred to, describing the capture of one of these flags (No. 5), under his command, here follows:

U. S. NAVY YARD, BOSTON, COMMANDANT'S OFFICE, June 14th, 1869.

SIR, -It gives me much pleasure to repeat the history of the Confederate flag in your possession, captured on board the "Atlanta." The history of the flag is so connected with the performance of the 15-inch guns, which you introduced into the service, that to tell the one involves some account of the other.

The previous flag of the Confederacy had been the stars and bars; but a strong current of adversity had set against the fortunes over which it waved, and the rebel government chose a new ensign.

I was told that this new flag was first hoisted in action on board the iron-clad "Atlanta."

The monitor "Weehawken," under my command, was sent to Warsaw Sound by Admiral Dupont, to prevent the rebel iron-clad “Atlanta" from getting to sea from Savannah by that passage. Subsequently the monitor "Nahant," Commander John Downes, was sent to the same place, to reinforce the "Weehawken."

On June 17, 1863, it was reported to me at daylight that the "Atlanta" was coming down the Wilmington river. I was incredulous, not believing that she would venture to attack two monitors; but a glance through a spy-glass convinced me that it was true.

We were riding to the flood-tide, heading towards the sea, without room to turn.

As before decided upon, in case an attack should be made while thus situated, we slipped the "Weehawken's" cable, and steamed down to a part of the channel which I had sounded and buoyed, in which the monitors could turn with a single sweep of the helm.

The "Nahant" commenced rapidly heaving up her anchor. The "Weehawken" passed the "Nahant" in going down, turned, and passed her in going up. The "Nahant" ran down necessarily to the same widening of the channel, turned as we had done, and came gallantly to our support. But her services were not needed. Captain Downes withheld his fire until he should be close alongside, under the impression that only then would his shot be effective. Before he reached the position he so zealously sought, the terrible 15-inch gun of the "Weehawken" had compelled the "Atlanta" to surrender.

At about three hundred yards from the "Atlanta," the "Weehawken" fired a 15-inch cored shot, weighing three hundred and forty pounds, with a charge of thirty pounds of powder.

I saw this shot strike on the side, and I saw splinters fly into the air. I learned, after the action, that it had driven about two barrels full of splinters of wood and iron into the vessel, these wounding every man of a gun's crew stationed opposite. It made a hole through the side, very ragged, but averaging six inches wide by three feet long; and it knocked down, by the mere concussion, some forty men, who lay upon the deck stunned, and as though dead.

The crew could not know that those insensible men were not killed.

Surprised at the novel effect of the huge shot employed against them, they ran below.

The next discharge was of two guns, the 11 and the 15-inch. The shot from one of these, I thought from the 15-inch, struck the top of the pilot-house, in which were four men, two pilots and two helmsmen. It crushed down the heavy wrought iron bars; and the four men fell stunned and helpless upon the floor, thus preventing the trap-door leading into the pilot-house from being raised, and thus cutting off access to the steering gear.

There remained no means of directing the course of the "Atlanta"; and the crew had deserted their quarters. She surrendered.

The first shot had taken away from the crew the wish to fight; the second had cut off the means of escape.

The flag in your possession, which had flown so confidently over the "Atlanta," was now hauled down, but was soon replaced by a smaller one, a piece of white, hurriedly cut out of the lowered ensign.

This white symbol, seen through smoke, looked blue; and its character thus misunderstood, two more guns were fired; but they had no effect upon the action, since its result had been reached already.

The new flag had not changed the fortunes of the Confederacy. So quickly had the terrible ordnance done its work, that the "Nahant" had no opportunity of firing a shot.

Hon. G. V. Fox.

Very truly yours,

JOHN RODgers.

The thanks of the Society were voted to Captain Fox for this valuable gift. The flags were exhibited in the room during the meeting.

The Chairman spoke of the decease, since the last meeting, of our associate, the Hon. William Brigham, and presented from the Standing Committee the following resolutions:

Resolved, That this Society has heard with deep regret of the death of the Hon. William Brigham, and would here record their sense of the great loss which the Society has sustained thereby.

Resolved, That the President be requested to appoint one from our number to write the memoir of our late associate, for the "Proceedings."