these predictions originated with Montcalm. They undoubtedly represented the common belief of all the French and many of the English statesmen of that day. As early as 1748, according to Bancroft, it was "announced by reasoning men in New York that the conquest of Canada, by relieving the Northern colonies from danger, would hasten their emancipation"; and this opinion was published in Europe by a Swedish traveller who heard it that year in America. Similar opinions were expressed during the negotiations which led to the peace of 1762, by Choiseul and Vergennes, by William Burke, by the anonymous writer of a letter from a gentleman in Guadaloupe, and by many others.

Mr. DEANE presented to the Library, in the name of the author, a book of 323 pages in the Spanish language, entitled "Historia Secreta de la Mision del ciudadano Norte-Amerigano Charles A. Washburn, cerca del Gobierno de la República del Paraguay. Por el Ciudadano Americano, Traductor titular (in partibus) de la misma Mision: Porter Cornelio Bliss, B.A."

Mr. Deane stated some of the circumstances, as communicated to him by Mr. Bliss, under which this fictitious narrative was written by the latter in Paraguay, while in a state of duress from the tyranny of Lopez.

OCTOBER MEETING.

The stated monthly meeting of the Society was held this day, Thursday, October 15, by invitation of our associate, Mr. Lawrence, and with the concurrence of the Standing Committee, at his house in "Longwood"; the President, the Hon. R. C. WINTHROP, in the chair.

The Recording Secretary read the record of the previous meeting.

The Librarian read the list of donors to the Library.

The Corresponding Secretary read a letter of acceptance from the Rev. Barnas Sears, D.D., of Staunton, Va.

Thomas B. Akins, Esq., of Halifax, N.S., and Pierre Margry, of Paris, were elected Corresponding Members.

The President, referring to the death of the Rev. Joseph B. Felt, spoke as follows:

The Rev. Joseph Barlow Felt died at Salem, which was also his birthplace, on the 8th of September last. He had been a member of this Society for nearly forty years, having been elected in 1830, and having become the second, in order of election, on our living Resident roll. During this period, he was a member of the Standing Committee for one year, a member of the Committee of Publication for four successive volumes of our Collections, and Librarian for fourteen years. In all these relations he rendered the Society faithful and valuable services. But his labors as an antiquarian and historian had a wider range. His Annals of Salem, his History of Ipswich, Hamilton and Essex, his Ecclesiastical History of New England, and his History of Massachusetts Currency, are important contributions to the work in which we are engaged, and evince the greatest industry and the most careful research. As a Commissioner, too, appointed by Governor Everett, for arranging and classifying the ancient State papers, in the archives of the Commonwealth, in which capacity he visited England to procure duplicates or copies of papers, which were missing from the files of the State, he performed a most laborious and important work for illustrating and preserving the history of Massachusetts. His Memoirs of Roger Conant, Hugh Peters, of Francis Higginson, and of William S. Shaw, his Customs of New England, and his Collections for the American Statistical Association, furnish additional testimony to his patient and painstaking pursuit of historical studies. Educated to the ministry, he was for many years a devoted pastor of Congregational Parishes at Sharon, and at Hamilton, in

Massachusetts, and had received the title of Doctor of Divinity. His later years, however, were devoted to historical and literary labors, in recognition of which he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College, which he had entered as a student in 1809.

Born on the 22d of December, in the year 1789, Dr. Felt had almost completed his eightieth year, and death must have been a welcome release to one whose Christian faith and upright life had given him so good a hope beyond the grave.

With the authority of the Standing Committee, I propose the following Resolution:

Resolved, That the Massachusetts Historical Society desire to enter upon their records their deep sense of the valuable and faithful servíces in the cause of New-England History of their late respected Associate, Dr. Felt; and that the President be requested to appoint one of our number to prepare a memoir of him for our Proceedings.

The Resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Rev. Dr. Dexter was appointed to prepare the customary memoir.

The President also spoke as follows concerning the decease of our Corresponding Member, Mr. William Winthrop, of Malta, which had been announced at the August meeting by Vice-President Aspinwall:

Absence from the State prevented me from being present at either the August or September meetings of the Society. I should otherwise have added a few words to the simple announcement which was made by my friend, Colonel Aspinwall, of the death of one of our Corresponding Members, ― Mr. William Winthrop, late Consul of the United States at Malta. Mr. Winthrop was a son of the late James Andrews, Esq., of Boston. His mother, whose family name he had adopted, was in lineal descent from John Winthrop, the Massachusetts Governor, by Margaret Tyndal, the saintly wife who followed him to America in 1631. He was a great-nephew of Judge James Winthrop, one of the eight original founders of this Society.

It was this latter consideration, not unmingled, as I have reason to believe, with a kind regard for myself, which led him to make the Society the object of such bounty as his not very ample fortune allowed him to bestow. He has presented to us, during the last ten or twelve years, about 350 printed volumes, 230 volumes in manuscript, and 150 pamphlets. Some of these books and pamphlets have reached us since his death, it having been one of the last labors of his life-for it was a labor, though a labor of love, in his enfeebled healthto make up two parcels of books as a parting contribution to our library.

But his regard for our welfare and our wants did not end there. In his last will and testament, executed shortly before his death, he charged his executors, after the death of his wife and his brothers and sisters, to whom his estate was primarily given, to pay to this Society the sum of three thousand dollars, to be held in trust as a fund for binding the old papers and pamphlets, - a fund which will come into our possession at no very distant day, and which will be welcomed by us all, whenever it comes, or by those who shall succeed to our places, as a most important and useful addition to our

resources.

Mr. Winthrop was for nearly thirty-five years the Consul of the United States at Malta, and in that capacity rendered faithful service to his country, and displayed great kindness and hospitality to Americans visiting that interesting island of the Mediterranean. He had a strong taste for antiquarian and historical pursuits, contributed frequently to the wellknown English periodical, entitled "Notes and Queries," and edited more than one, I believe, of the Camden Society's volumes. He died on the third day of July last, in the sixtyfirst year of his age; and his funeral obsequies were attended by a great concourse of the local authorities, and of the friends and acquaintances, to whom his many amiable qualities had endeared him.

I venture to propose that the President be requested to express to his afflicted widow the grateful sense we cannot fail to cherish of his liberal benefactions to this Society, and of the respect we entertain for his memory.

Whereupon it was voted, That the President be requested to communicate to Mrs. Winthrop, the widow of our late Corresponding Member, an expression of our condolence and acknowledgment.

The President read the following communication from our associate, Mr. Whitmore, relative to the Rev. John Hutchinson, of England, with notices of other members of the family:

Hon. ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

DEAR SIR, Having observed that the death of one of our Corresponding Members, the Rev. John Hutchinson, has not yet been formally brought to the notice of the Society, I beg leave to communicate the few facts relative to his life which I have been able to collect.

Mr. Hutchinson had a certain hereditary claim to membership here as being the grandson of the famous historian. He insured it by his exertions to give to the public the concluding volume of the History of Massachusetts. As this Society was the main agent in bringing about the renewal of friendly relations with the descendants of the most distinguished Royalist of the Revolution, a brief recapitulation of the steps will be given.

In 1814, the Society proposed to print Hubbard's History (see Coll. 2d ser. vol. ii. p. 283), and therefore applied to the descendants of Chief Justice Peter Oliver in England for the use of a transcript made by him. This application was refused by Dr. Peter Oliver in an injudicious letter published in the Collections, 2d ser. vol. iii. pp. 288-9. At this time, however, a communication was received from Elisha Hutchinson, Esq., son of Governor Hutchinson, and father of our late associate. In 1818, the Society passed a vote requesting the representatives of Gov ernor Hutchinson to publish the third volume of his History of Massachusetts Bay; and in the preface to that book (London, 1828) will be found copies of the letters sent to England by Charles Lowell, John Davis, and Christopher Gore, Esquires, in aid of this request. At that time Elisha Hutchinson was chosen a Corresponding Member of the Society, his election being dated 27th April, 1820; but his advanced age prob