MOTLEY ON HOLLAND-In one of his letters to his mother in 1851, published in the volumes of Correspondence recently issued by Harper & Brothers, John Lothrop Motley writes: "Holland is a stranger and more wonderful country than I imagined. I did not think that you would so plainly observe how it has been scooped out of the bottom of the sea. But when traveling there you see how the never-ending, still-beginning duel, which this people has so long been waging with the ocean, remains still their natural condition, and the only means by which their physical existence as a nation can be protected a year. They are always below highwater mark, and the ocean is only kept out by the most prodigious system of dykes and pumps which the heart of man ever conceived. It is like a leaking ship at sea after a tempest, the people are pumping night and day for their lives. Tell the governor that the low land at Riverdale would be an excellent miniature Holland. He has only to dyke out the Charles as the Dutch do the Rhine and the Meuse, cut twelve or fifteen canals at right angles, and keep them dry by a series of mighty pumps worked by twenty or thirty windmills. Such an apparatus would add very much to the picturesqueness of your place, and would improve the value of the land incalculably. We could cut up an immense quantity of English grass and pasture the cows afterward."

JOHN GALLOP-Editor of Magazine of American History: In the recently issued

Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, vol. ii., p. 581, two persons, each bearing the name of John Gallop, are blended into one. The John Gallop who found John Oldham's pinnace was father to the John Gallop who was killed at the Narragansett fort. The former died in January, 1649-'50; the latter, December 19, 1675.

ELROY M. AVERY

THE VALUE OF WASHINGTON-There is force in the words of George William Curtis, who says: "The value of Washington to his country transcends that of any other man to any land. Take him from the Revolution, and all the fervor of the Sons of Liberty would seem to have been a wasted flame. Take him from the constitutional epoch, and the essential condition of union, personal confidence in a leader, would have been wanting. Franklin, when the work of the constitutional convention was completed, said that until then he had not been sure whether the sun depicted above the president's chair was a rising or a setting sun, but now his doubt was solved. Yet it was not the symbolic figure above the chair, it was the man within it, which should have forecast the great result to that sagacious mind.

From the moment that independence was secured, no man in America saw more clearly the necessity of national union, or defined more wisely and distinctly the reasons for it. He is the chief illustration in a popular government of a great leader who was not also a great orator. Perhaps that fact gave

a solid force to his influence by depriving all his expressions of a rhetorical character, and preserving in them throughout a simplicity and moderation which deepened the impression of his comprehensive sagacity. He was felt as

both an inspiring and a sustaining power in the preliminary movement for union, and by natural selection he was both president of the convention and the head of the government which it insti tuted."

TELLING THE BEES-Editor of Magazine of American History: Will you, or some of your readers, tell me upon what ancient custom Whittier founded his little poem "Telling the Bees"?

M. B. WINTERBOTTOM

MONTREAL, Canada.

NOYES Information is wanted concerning :

(1) Name of wife and date and place of death of Moses Noyes, born in New

THE NEAREST RELATIVES OF

bury, Mass., 12 May, 1744, son of Moses and Susannah (Jaques) Noyes. (2) Name of wife and date and place of death of Moses Noyes, born in Newbury, Mass., 16 December, 1743, son of Moses and Hannah (Smith) Noyes.

(3) Rev. William Noyes, rector of Chalderton county, Wilts, England, 1602 till 1616, when he died. When and where was he born, and what were his parents' names? J. ATKINS NOYES

Box 950, NEW YORK.

WASH

INGTON [XXI. 340]-The correspondent, who writes that from the half-brothers of our first President are descended the Washingtons who represent the Washington family of to-day, is evidently not aware that there are living direct descendants of the full brothers of President Washington. Samuel, born November 16, 1734, was five times married, and left six children, five sons and one daughter, and their descendants reside in Jefferson county, West Virginia. John AugusJohn Augustine, born January 13, 1736, married Hannah, daughter of Colonel John Bushrod, and left five children. Charles, born May 2, 1738, was a colonel in the army, and laid out the town that now

bears his name, "Charlestown," Jefferson county, West Virginia. He married Mildred, daughter of Colonel Francis Thornton, of Spottsylvania, and left four children, two sons and two daughters, who attained their majority.

Corbin Washington, the fourth child of John Augustine (President Washington's full brother), born in 1765, married Hannah, daughter of Hon. Richard Henry Lee, and left five children. His third son, John Augustine, born in 1792, married in 1814 Charlotte, daughter of Major Richard Scott Blackburn, U. S. A., and lived and died at Mount Vernon. His son John Augustine, born in 1820, was the last individual owner of Mount Vernon; he was aid-de-camp to

General Robert E. Lee, and was killed in battle in 1861. His wife was Eleanor L. Selden, and his six children were all born at Mount Vernon; two of his sons, Lawrence and George, are now living. Richard Blackburn Washington, brother of the last-named John Augustine, born in 1822, married his cousin Christine Maria Washington, a direct descendant of Samuel, brother of the President, and their children are therefore descended from two of the full brothers of the illustrious "Father of His Country." Their sons are John Augustine, born 1847; Samuel Walter, born 1853, a lawyer in Charlestown; Richard Blackburn, born 1854, in business in New Mexico; George Steptoe, born 1860, in business in Philadelphia; William de Hertburn, born 1864, in business in Mexico. There are two other members of the Washington family residing in Charlestown, West Virginia-Bushrod C. and his brother Thomas Blackburn Washington-who are direct descendants of John Augustine, the brother of President Washington. The approaching celebration has awakened such interest in the genealogy of the Washington family that I send this to the Magazine of American History as a record that ought to be preserved. MARCUS J. Wright

WASHINGTON, D. C.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE [xxi. 85]—Editors of Magazine of American History: In the interest of the truth of history, I would correct a statement in your notice

of The Advance Guard of Western Civilization, by James R. Gilmore. You say of the people led by Robertson to Middle Tennessee: "The men whom he led were the ancestors of those who made such a noble stand for the Union during the civil war." The truth is, the stand was on the other side altogether. The roll-books of Confederate officers and soldiers for Middle Tennessee will be found to contain names of descendants of about all the families led to this region by Robertson. These families, as soon as they could safely do so, spread out from the French Lick, or Nashville, into all the great basin of Tennessee and beyond, but few Union soldiers went to the late war from all this territory. These have ever been a brave people, as the records of 1812, Creek, Seminole, and Mexican wars, and many a Southern field from 1861-'65 will testify. People at a distance often confound East and Middle Tennessee, hence you talk of mountaineers in connection with settlements by Robertson. So far from being destitute of schools, Nashville has a larger number of first-class schools, and more thousands of pupils in attendance, than almost any city of its size in the land; and in proof of its zeal it is to entertain in July next the National Teachers' Association. To this the MAGAZINE is heartily invited. We do not wish to remain "new fields in historic research" any longer.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

S. A. LINK

NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY—At a stated meeting, held on the evening of April 2d, the Hon. John A. King presiding, Mr. Isham, the librarian, announced that Mr. John McKesson, an old and honored member of the society, had presented papers relating to the history of New York, including manuscripts, printed books, pamphlets, and broadsides, supplementing a gift made by the father of the donor in the early days of the society. On motion of the librarian, the following resolution was unanimously adopted ·

"Resolved, that the thanks of the society be presented to Mr. John McKesson, in acknowledgment of the valuable collection of manuscripts and books donated by him to the society."

Mr. King, after some remarks on the life and achievements of the late John Ericsson, a former member, introduced the Hon. George S. Boutwell, ex-governor of Massachusetts, who read the paper of the evening, entitled "The Progress of American Independence," wherein the growth of a spirit of independence, stimulated but not originated by the acts of parliament, was traced from the settlement of the charter colonies to the final separation. The thanks of the society were voted at the conclusion of the address, and a copy requested, with permission to print. society then adjourned.

The

THE ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY held its first annual meeting last evening at the residence of Gilman H. Perkins. The reports showed that the society was in a healthy condition financially, had

held a number of interesting meetings, and had done much valuable work throughout the year. The custodian, H. K. Phinney, reported a valuable collection of relics and works relating to the history and traditions of western New York, mainly derived from contributions from members and others. A very interesting paper was then read by Mr. Howard L. Osgood on "The Titles to the Pulteney Estate," including the title to the hundred acre tract. Mr. George T. Parker presented to the society from the late Dellon M. Dewey certain records relating to the institution of the Union League in the city of Rochester in March, 1863, which Mr. Dewey claimed was the first organization of the famous Union League of America. Professor Morey, from the Board of Managers, reported a list of topics and assignments supplementary to that which has already been published, as follows:

"The Geology and Physical Geography of the Genesee Valley." Professor H. L. Fairchild.

"The Aboriginal History of the Genesee Valley." George H. Harris.

"Pioneer Settlements in Monroe county." H. E. Rochester.

History of the Municipal Government of Rochester." John Bower. "Financial History and Statistics of Rochester." George W. Elliott.

"History of Transportation in the Genesee Valley." George Moss. "History of the Secret Societies in Rochester." Thomas Gliddon.