Excerpt from The Annual Address, Delivered Before the Maryland Historical Society, on the Evening of December 17th, 1866 To show how valuable and extensive are some of these collections, I will only mention the library of the Vatican at Rome, founded by Pope Hilary, in the sixth century. It contained in 1848, besides printed volumes, manuscripts, entirely matchless any where else. Some of these manuscripts go back to the third century, and are therefore the earliest books known to exist. But the best and most reliable mate rials for history, are more liable to perish, and be lost and forgotten, than these works even in manuscript, of the learned of any age. They are, the newspapers of the day: the letters of prominent men who take an active part in the public transactions, the pamphlets in which public affairs are discussed; and the private journals of individuals. Pitkin, in his preface to the political and civil history of the United States, says: The numerous publica tions relating to individuals who acted a conspicuous part in the political scenes of this period, not only give the characters of the individuals themselves, but also furnish many important historical facts. He again remarks: Much of the Revolutionary history of the United States, is only to be found in the private papers of those who were principal actors during that periodand whenever the letters of General Washington, and the papers left by Samuel Adams, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, shall be given to the public, a great addition will be made to the stock of materials for American History. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.