E. E. Nale reviews this volume in Xian &. Jan. 67. Grend Sullivan by Thos. C. Amory

A vindication.

against Bancerfly charges

this, vol. is in the

Supplement to Dist.

may.

Sec. 1866 hist.

PREFACE.

ONE volume more will complete the American revolution, including the negotiations for peace in 1782. For that volume the materials are collected and arranged, and it will be completed and published without any unnecessary delay. A single document only, but that a very important one, had been wanting; on my request for it through my friend John Bigelow, our minister at Paris, copies of it were ordered for me with the utmost courtesy and promptness by M. Drouyn de Lhuys. That volume will bring into the field in direct action Spain, France, and Great Britain, as well as the United States. I shall endeavor to treat them all with equal impartiality, and I do not doubt of finding a corresponding disposition in my countrymen. I hope to present in a just aspect those who rendered great services to the country, unmindful of any personal differences which may have grown up among them. Especially the documents respecting the preliminaries of peace of which I

have acquired copies are so complete that I trust I may be able to disentangle the confusion which has grown out of judgments founded upon rumor and imperfect materials, and to set down with exactness the respective parts of all who were employed in the pacification, without impairing the merits of any one.

In addition to very full collections relating to the war in the United States from the archives of England and of France, I have been most successful in obtaining masses of papers from Germany. In the time of the late king of Prussia I received permission to examine the archives of the department of foreign affairs at Berlin. I was unable to go there in person; but with the hearty coöperation of my friend Joseph A. Wright, our minister, I have yet obtained from that metropolis most important assistance, for which I am specially indebted to the prompt and efficient directions of Lieutenant-General von Moltke, the chief of the Prussian staff, the same who, by his part in the plan and execution of the last Prussian campaign in Bohemia, has taken his place among the world's greatest captains. The reports and letters sent over for the information of the Duke of Brunswick came during the period of revolution to be placed among the military archives of Prussia. Of all these which were of any historical value exact copies were made for me, including charts and plans of battles and military works. These papers are of inestimable importance, especially for the study of military operations in 1777. A very large collec tion of journals and correspondence had been made

by Captain Max von Elking, author of a "Life of General Riedesel," and of a history of "German Auxiliary Troops in the American War of Liberation." This entire collection he was so good as to allow me to secure. It had been made with rare opportunities, and includes letters of Burgoyne and voluminous autographs of Riedesel.

The archives of Hesse - Cassel have not as yet been laid open to the public; but I have gained through private sources interesting and instructive journals and reports of Hessian officers. It was also my good fortune to obtain for a correspondent a colonel of the Prussian staff, an officer of high military attainments and superior knowledge, who at the same time has the merit of eminent literary culture and familiarity with historic investigations. Through him a general and persevering search was made in the public libraries for all German works which contain anything on our war, and especially for the miscellaneous articles scattered through journals and magazines from the days of the revolution till now; and where the originals could not be purchased, copies were made for me of all which was found. In this way I possess the criticisms of German officers who served in America, and an exhaustive body of materials, such as has very rarely, if ever, been brought together on a historical subject of a like nature. My object in seeking so full a collection of military papers was to insure a correct comprehension of military events by comparing the narratives, opinions, and judgments of distinguished critics educated as soldiers. The special value of these German documents con

sists in this: that they are in the main the most impartial of all which have been preserved.

For further security against error while my pages were passing into type, it was my custom occasionally to submit proofs to the trained scrutiny and special erudition of my friend the late Jared Sparks. In addition to these precautions, some of the ablest officers of our army have given me the benefit of their views on such military questions as I proposed to them. But while I have spared no pains to gain assistance, I am alone responsible for what I have written.

With regard to the diplomatic relations of the several European powers interested in our struggle, my collections leave nothing to be desired. In addition to those which I had formerly obtained in Europe, and of which I have heretofore given some account, I received, through the courtesy of the Spanish government and the kind attention of Don Pascual de Gayangos, very valuable documents from the Spanish archives. The papers taken collectively enable me to state with certainty the relations of the English and French and Spanish ministers and kings towards our revolution, as well as of other powers, especially the German powers, Holland, and Russia, even to the shades of difference in opinion and the varying counsels and policy of the sovereigns and their cabinets.

I am aware that this volume is more minute in the narration of some events than a proper sym metry would permit. But the years to which it relates are the most important of the war in more aspects than one. It was in the last months of

1777 that the spirit of separatism was at its topmost flood, never again to rise so high; it was out of the principles of this period that the articles of confederation took their character; its events determined the alliance of France, and its vicissitudes most clearly display the character of Washington.

Washington was not satisfied with any history of the revolution which appeared during his life. He kept his papers with the utmost care, building a fireproof apartment for their security, evidently thinking, that, though a history of his services had not been adequately written, one day careful inquirers, with the aid of his correspondence, would rise up to do him justice. The labors of Marshall and of Sparks prove that his confidence was well founded. No one has more carefully described his part in the campaign of 1777 than Marshall; and yet that biographer did not say all that may with truth be said of the greatness of Washington during that year. He failed, for example, fully to point out the effect of the advice and disinterestedness of the commander-in-chief on the success of the northern army.

I have done what I could to learn the truth and to state it clearly; to the judgment of the candid and the well-informed I shall listen with deference. This contribution to the history of the country I lay reverently on the altar of freedom and union.