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=: I, V; . p ’ , AMERICAN HISTORY. , _ Wag/the United States, fiom the discovery qfthc American ntt'nent. By George Bancrofl. Histon o, the Coloni-

mt’on of the United States.“ ‘_In that o um; Matti Bancroft intends to include in this work the entire gistegyoftheUnited States. The volumes before us godly embrace the- history of, its Colonization; and ex- fuhibit historical merits of thehighest order in every point

‘,_-.;— of view. Whether as regards plan, matter, or compo

sition, so well-digested and comprehensive a history has not appeared since .the productions of MILL and HAL- LAM, ifin point of mere attraction for the general reader Bancroft’s History of the Colonization of the United "states does not excel both those standard authors. ,, To write thé’ early history of the United States has I l l tired to us a work ofdifiiculty, from the num- . istinct colonies and the minutencss of their . This difficulty is conquered with great skill and felicity in the work before us. The fundamental canon on which Mr.-Bancroft has proceeded, is riot to consider mere events, but the principles which those events contain; so that much of the work is a history of subjects, which the actors, however prominent they 7 may often seem, are itr reality subordinate to the exhi- Vbition of some large religious, social, or political prin- ciple. These subjects, too, are not merely taken up at the point where they intersect the history of the United States, but are often considered from their origin: sla- very, for example, giving rise to a rapid survey of that institution from the earliest period till the Dutch vessel arrived in Virginia with her scanty cargo of Negroes. The relation of European events to colonial interests, as well as the circumstances in which the foundation , ofseveral colonies originated, enable the author to give .I‘v‘iriety and relief by, episodes or digressions; although

- ittnay be douhlted whether the clearness resulting from

gittgleness and unity is so well attained, though greater *richness and comprehensiveness is without doubt pro~

,fidnced.

A'summary account of the order and arrangement of

“j, the work will convey a better idea of it than any gene-

ral expressions. The book opens with a brief sketch of 'the discovery g North America, and a narrative of the

ita'early attempts’of the French at colonization; conden-

sing into a short chapter a critical view'of the claims of the Northmen, and the Gallic career in geographical discovery. The second chapter narrates the practical exertions, ofthe Sp‘aniards in extending a knowledge of that part of the continent which now constitutes the United States: and the third describes the discoveries of the English, and the various abortive attempts at set- tlement; this preliminary matter not merely introducing the/general subject, but presenting a brief and connect- ed history ofaseries of remarkable voyages, hold advert- tures, and luckiess attempts at permanent colonization. Although chronology is not strictly observed, yet regard is bad to the order oftime so far as this, that each'colo- try is generally taken in the order of its foundation: and, closely examined, each will be found to have ori- ginated in some peculiar condition of European opinion, Which either succumbed to or gathered strength from the circumstances in which it was placer]. Virginia, the earliest settlement, ’was first succ‘essfully founded by

' mpany with a charter from James the First; and, gthe'sovereignty ofthe monarch, the shareholders , to company possessed as absolute a power over their renders as the East India Company over its servants. Pro- .» fig’especially from gold, was the object ofthe association: the settlers were to labour in common; but had no power whatsoever ever their own concerns, or even over the administration ofjustice. The returns Of an East India or mining Company, could not, however, be de- rived from the clearing and tillage ofa soil, fertile even as that of Virginia. Economical necessity compelled the colonial servants of the company to break through the rule of property in common, by assigning small por- tions of land to each settler; and grants by purchase either in kind or money seem soon to have become the best if not the only source of profit the companies ever got. A political necessity led one governor to summon a general assembly ofthe colonists: the weakness and distraction of an embarrassed corporation induced the proprietors at home to wink at it: by the time that the fatal mortality of the earlier settlers, the loss of capital, and the party-squabbles of the Virginia Company, had induced the Crown to resume its charters, a state of society where the only source of inequality (colour excepted), was one of ability or property, had already established: institutions adapted to its new condition, though ever modified by remembrances of England; and these institutions neither Charles nor Cromwell had leisure, if they had the inclination, to attack. But for the introduction of slavery, Virginia would probably have been nearly as democratic as New England.

Maryland, the adjoining colony to Virginia, originated in It disposition on the part of a wealthy Catholic to p‘rocure religious freedom for those- of his own sect.

epulsed from Virginia by the tests of Protestant alle- 1giance and supremacy, Lord Baltimore applied to the Crown for a charter; which was granted by Charles the First. It convede to Baltimore the powers almost of a feudator ,(prince; and he himselfadded perfect freedom of religion. Maryland was the only English colony that ever went forth an entire society, with gentlemen

s well as labourers, land'lords as well as land-tillers. The colony exhibited somewhat ofthe forms of a feudal state in its tenures, and of an old society in its grada- tion of ranks; and Maryland more than Virginia. ought to exhibit the traces of aristocratical dominion. if scan- ned by a discriminating eye. The grants of Baltimore were liberal and easy; and the contrast between the proprietary of Virginia and Maryland strikingly exhibits the moral of greediness and liberality: whilst-the Vir- ginian companies lost all their subscribed capital in a few years, and were ignominiously dissolved, the pro- pridiors ofMaryland drew for some generations a large revenue from the. province.

The foundation of Democratic New England arose from tli'é persecutions to which the Puritans were subject. They were rather permitted to colonize than sent out as colonists: the exiles of Holland, sick of foreign man- hers, departed with nothing but a sort of understanding from James the First that they might go without his troubling himself about them. The Independents in religion were Republicans In politics, and most assuredly equal in worldly goods; and in the depth of winter, with. the certainty of every hardship before them, and the prospect of famine, they framed acoustitution, which hasthe two peculiarities of being the first clear and unquestionable illustration of the Old Whig theory of the'"“'socialcompact,” and Of being the model of the Democracy of the United States. The Quaker coloni- zation of Pennsylvania, (prefaced in Mr. Bancroft by a history of the sect and a view of its doctrines,) was equally Democratical—more free, or rather absolutely free, in‘religious matters; and established voting "not

’ a by the coitfused way ofcrieshnd voices, but/by the bal-

loting box.” The present state of New York. fiTSt founded by Holland under the title of the New Nether- lands, furnishes the author awith a‘n‘ Oppoflul‘tlty or making a digression to Dutch' history, and glV'Pg an‘ accounLof Dutch discovery and colonization till the conquest of the settlement by the NewEngland mrlrua and a British fleet. Georgia, the last plantation, and even now little more than a century old, o’riginated m a charitable desire to furnish debtors and .other destr- tute persons with a means of livelihood: and though the main honour is due to Oglethorpe, (whom Pope selected to illustrate the innate workings of benevo- lence,) yet it indicates the progress ofa more exalted public opinion, when such a design could meet wuh public supporters. The other colonies—some of them offshoots of the older settlements, som,‘ of them founded on proprietary principles, where the gwn granted lhe territory to individuals, and they colo ed as they could, in the mode most favourable for their” "u profit—though not possessing such distinct and oh . cteristic features .asthe original plantations, have still points of discrimi- nation. To discern the principles of each—to describe the struggles and difficulties, and often the dangers of the first settlers—to narrate the growth ofthe settle- ment, and to carry down the Erricular history of each and the general history of all dis the purpose of this work; varied, as we have said already, by frequent digressions to universal, European, or English history, when they touch upon the colonization of the United States, and by frequent portraits of European worthies, when connected with America. '

Though agood plan is essential to a good work, and may be received as evidence of an understanding ofthe subject, design without execution is oflittle avail. But the execution of the History w the Colonization (ft/u: United States is ofa high order. Mr. Bancroft has from nature the first requisite of an historian—an historical mind; an understanding which can comprehend the past, an acumen to detect the general principle envelop- ed in particular facts, and a perception that seizes upon the true characteristic of things, 'and assigns both to men and events their proper scale artd station; while, if not secure from the charge ofpartiality, he is perhaps as impartial as any [rational historian, tested by a stran- ger, would be found. These native qualities have been assiduously cultivated by collateral as well as direct studies. Mr. Bancroft is not only familiar with all the authorities essential to a mastery of his subject, but he appears to have formed his taste by an assiduous perusal of at least the English classics; his work, independent of internal evidence, containing illustrations or allusions germane to his subject, but scattered in writers to whom no one would have referred who was reading for the oc- casion. The result of natural bias and long time is great condensation and gr’eat spirit; though full of mat- ter, the work is not crowded, and though the digressions may detract from its singleness, they do not impede and do not confuse,—unless in the chronology, which it is difficult to avoid when events concurrent in point of time cannot be concurrently related. The author well selects the striking points of an incident, and gets at once to the pith ofthe conclusion; and his rapid narra- tive sometimes outruns and always keeps pace with the expectation Of the reader.

The model of the writer is Gibbon; though as regards mere diction, the native inflation of an American is substituted for the stateliuess of the English historian; and Mr. Bancroft uses the figure of personification more than his prototype—having, apparently, derived it from De Tocqueville, of whom there are visible traces in his last volume. But the imitation, or at least the study Of Gibbon, is chiefly shown in a sort of assumed elevation of mind, in the pregnant brevity Ofadjunctive epithets, and in the artfully allusive mode ofthe Roman historian, who suggests more to the mind by allusion than he could present by description. In these indications Mr. Ban- croft is very large and very comprehensive. At the same time, though the allusive style indicates more than, can be told, it does not tell things so clearly, or impress them so distinctly, as a direct narrative.

Notwithstanding the length to which this notice has already extended, ajust idea of the work will be best conveyed by allowing it to speak for itself, and exhibit examples of its various features. Beginning at the be- ginning, we adduce a specimen Of the author’s com- prehension and condensation. We know not that any essential point of fact or ofoprnion is omitted in the fol— lowing sketch ot the claim of the Northmen to the dis- covery of America; about which volumes have been written, and numerous controversies have taken place.

or.er or THE non'rmrmr TO THE mscovnny or Aarnnrcn.

“The national pride Of an Icelandic historian has in- deed claimed for his ancestors the glory Of having dis- coverer] the Western hemisphere. It is said that they passed from their own island to Greenland, and were driven by adverse winds from Greenland to the shores of Labrador; that the voyage was often repeated; that the coasts OfAmerica were extensively explored, and colonies established on the shores of Nova Scotia or Newfoundland. It is even suggested that these early adventurers anchored near the harbour of Boston, or in the bays of New Jersey'; and Danish antiquaries believe that Northmen entered the waters of Rhode Island, in- scribed their adventures on the rocks of Taunton River, gave the name of Vinland to the South-east coasts of New England, and explored the inlets of our country as far as Carolina. But the story ofthe colonization of America by Northmen rests on narratives mythological in form and obscure in meaning, ancient yet not con- temporary. The chief document is arr interpolation in the history of Sturleson, whose zealous curiosity could hardly have neglected the discovery of a continent. The geographical details are too vague to sustain a conjec- ture; the accounts ofthe mild winter and fertile soil are, on any modern hypothesis, fictitious or exaggerated; the description of the natives applies only to the Esqui- maux, inhabitants of hyperborean regions; the remark which should define the length of the shortest winter’s day has received interpretations adapted. to every lati- trtde from New York to Cape Farewell; and Vinland has been sought in all directions from Greenland and the St. Lawrence to Africa. The nation of intrepid mariners whose voyages extended beyond Iceland and beyond Sicily, could easily have sailed from Greenland to Labrador: no clear historic evidence establishes the natural probability that they accomplished the passaoe ';

“ You have always nature,” says Reynolds to the in}- trait-painter: and so has the historian of any period of which tolerable records have been preserved, Hence any history, in. competent hands, will present at least 5 picture ofsocrety and a portraiture of persons, quaint and curious, and marked by passions and vices if not rising to historical dignity. This was especially the case in America;'the bulk of whose, founders were the Vnccessitous, the sturdy, or the independent-thinking;

whose leaders possessed daring enterprise at and whose positiOn drove them upon strange ‘1 ‘ procure food, not to mention wealth. Cur elder; let! ders must have heard in their youth traditional accounts of trepanning or kidnapping .men' to the plantations, and the youngest may get an inkling of the practice ]in the Vicarof Wakefield. Here Is a picture ofrts ear 1- er stages under the commonwealth and the Stuarts.

WHITE SLAVERY IN THE PLANTATIONS.

“Cond'uional servitude, under indentures or covenants, had from the first existed in Virginia. The servant 'stood to his master in the relation ofa debtor, bound to diScharge the costs Of emigration by the entire employ- ment of his powers for the benefit of his creditor. Op- pression early ensued : men who had been transported into Virginia at an expense of eight or ten pounds, were sometimes sold for forty, fifty, or even threescore pounds. The supply of white servants became a regular bust- ness; and a class of men, nicknamed spirits, used to delude young persons, servants and rdlers, into embark- ing for America, as to a land of spontaneous plenty. White servants came to be a usual article ()fll'i'tfl'lc.' T.hey were sold in England to be transported, and in Virginia were resold to the highest bidder ; like Negroes, they were to be purchased on shipboard, as men buy horses at a fair. In 1672, the average price in the Colonies, ~where'five years of service was due, was about ten pounds; while a Negro was worth twenty or twenty-five pounds. Sonsual was this manner Of dealing in Englishmen, that nqt the Scots only, who were taken in the field of Dunbar, were sent into involuntary servitude in New England, but the Royalist prisoners of the battle of Worcester; and the leaders in the insurrection ofPenruddoc, in spite of the remonstrance of I-Iaselrig and Henry Vane, were ship- ped to America. At the corresponding period in Ire- land, the crowded exportation ofIrish Catholics was a frequent event, and was attended by aggravations hardl

In 1685, when nearly a thousand of the prisoners con- demned for participating in the insurrection of Morr- mouth were sentenced to transportation, men of influ- ence at Court, with rival imporlunity, scrambled for the convicted insurgents as a merchantable commodity.

“The condition of apprenticed servants in Virginia differed from that of slaves chiefly in the duration oftheir bondage; and the laws of the colony favoured their ear- ly eofranchisement.” ‘

The leaning of our author is to drawing characters, and his book abounds with them; in some sense resem-‘ bling an historical portrait-gallery. They embrace many Englishmen who were contracted with the‘ Colonies by having filled office there or assisted in founding them, and some whose influence upon American advancement was less immediate. The most convenient for extract here is the character of Smith, the true founder. of the colony of Virginia. '

CHARACTER OF JOHN SMITH.

“Disunion completed the scene ofmisery. It became necessary to depose VViugfield, the avaricious Prcsrdent, who was charged with engrossing the, choicest stores; and who was on the point ofabandoning the colony and escaping to the West Indies. Ratcliffe, the new Presi- dent, possessed neither judgment noi industry: so that the management of affairs fell into the hands of Smith, whose deliberate enterprise and cheerful courage .alone diffused light amidst the general gloom. He possessed by nature the buoyant spirit of heroic daring. In boyhood he had sighed for the opportunity of“ setting out on brave adventures”; and though not yet thirty years of age: he was already a veteran in the service oflrumauity and of Christendom. His early life had been given to the cause of freedom in the Low Countries, where he had fought for the independence of the B‘atavian Republic. Again, as a traveller, he had roamed over France, had visited the shores of Egypt, had returned to Italy, and, panting for glory, had sought the barriers of Hungary, where there had long existed an hereditary warfare with the followers Of Mahomet. It was there that the young English cavalier distinguished himself by the bravest featsof arms, in the sight ofChristians and In- fi'dels: engaging fearlessly and always successfully in the srngle combat with the Turks, which from the days of the Crusades, had been warranted by the rules of chival- ry. His signal proweSS gained for him the favour of Sigismundi Bathori, the unfortunate PJincee of Transyl- vania. At length he, with many others, was overpowered in a sudden skirmish among the glerrs of Wullacbia, and was left-severely wounded in the field of battle. A pri- soner or war, he was now, according to the Eastern cus- tom, offered for sale “ like a beast in a market-place,” and was sent to Constantinople as a slave. A Turkish lady had'compassion on his misfortunes and his youth, and, desrgnrng to restore him ,to freedom, removed him to a fortress in the Crimea. Contrary to her com- mands, he was there subjected to the harshest usage among half-savage serfs. Rising against his task-master whom be slow in the struggle, he mounted a horse, and through forest-paths escaped from tlrraldom to the con- fines of Russra. Again the hand of woman relived his wants; he travelled acro’ss the country to Transylvania; and there bidding farewell to his companions in arms he resolved to return “to his own sweet country." Bui as he crossed the Continent, he heard the rumours of crvrlwar in Northern Africa, and hastened, in search of untried dangers, to the realms of Morocco. At lenath returulng to England, his mind did not so much shire as appropriate to itselfthe general enthusiasm for plant- ing states in America; and now the infant common- wealth of_Virginia depended for its existence on his firm~ tress. Hrs experience in human nature under all its forms, and the cheering vigour of his resolute will, made him equal to his duty. I-Ie inspired the natives with awe, and quelled the spirit of anarchy and rebel- lion among the emigrants. He was more wakeful to gather provisions than the covetous to find gold - and strove to keep the country more than the faint-heit'rted to abandon it. As autumn approached, the Indians from the superfiuity of their harvest, made a voluntary, offering; and supplies were also collected by expeditions into the interior. But the conspiracies that were still formed to desert the settlement, first by the selfish Win - field, and again by the imbecile Ratcliffe could be (if; fealed only after a skirmish, in which one’of the leader; was killed; and the danger of a precipitate abandonment of Virginia continued to be imminent till the approach of wrnter, when not only the homeward navi atiom became perilous, but the fear of famine was removde b the abundance of wild-fowl and game. Nothing th y remained but to examine the country.” '3 en

As an example ofthe narrative style, (although this is not so well exhibited in examples.) we will wire a speci- men from the colonization of Georgia. B

THE numerous on THE monavmrvs.

“ While the neighbouring province of South C ' _ _ . l displayed “ a untversal zeal for assisting its nzifallla

r

and bulwark,” the p

it, ration ofthe Society in Eng-laud '

Y inferior to the usual atrocities ofthe African slave-traded

ersecuted protestantsknown to us as

Moravians heardthe message of.

Gospel, prepared to emigrate to their;

passage, provisions in Georgia for-i.

for themselves and their children, frog; to be' held for a small quit-rent, the Englishmen, freedom of worst“