Joseph Fallate, died in December, 1823, aged 106. He was believed to be a native of Spain; came to England, as he said, in his youth; from thence sailed to America, as a servant of Lord Montagu, when 16 or 17 years of age. Provincial Taxes in New-Hampshire. 1753-1300 Louisbourgh. 2500 Act of 1753. £3800 1759-1300 Louisbourgh. £7300 1760-£1300 Louisbourgh. 1761-£1000 Louis. £6000 act 1762-£1000 Louis. £6000 act 1763-1000 Louisb. £6000 act 2000 Louisb. £8000 act £3000 1764-1000 Louisb. £6000 act 2000 Louisb. £8000 act £1300 1765-1000 Louisb. £6000 act 2000 Louisb. £8000 act £3000 1766-1000 Louisb. £6000 act £3000 Memo. of Pres. Weare. AN ADDRESS, Delivered before the New-Hampshire Historical Society, at their Annual Meeting, June 8, 1831, by CHARLES H. ATHERTON. Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Historical Society, I APPEAR at your request to discharge a duty, which no member of the Society should feel himself at liberty to decline-the duty of not withholding our efforts, however individually humble they may be, towards illustrating the natural, civil, literary or ecclesiastical history of our State, and by that means to manifest our approval, at least, of the important and praiseworthy purposes of its Historical Society. You cannot however be insensible that New-Hampshire is peculiarly fortunate in her Historian. All the topics, that come within the scope of general history, have been treated with a diligence of research, a minuteness and accuracy of detail, a perspicuity, elegance and impartiality, that ought ever to endear to the people of this State the name of BELKNAP. And it is a subject of sincere congratulation, that by a new edition of his work now coming from the press, under the auspices of a most deserving member of our Society, it may, as it should, find a place on the shelf of every family library in the State. Rash and fruitless would be the attempt, to enter and glean in any part of the field which Belknap has reapt. I propose therefore to occupy a short period of your leisure, irksomely, I fear, to my audience, upon a subject too frequently passed over by the historian with a neglectful silence,-a subject never theless, in my apprehension, most intimately connected with the moral condition, the social harmony, the comfort, prosperity and happiness of a community. I refer to the tenure by which real estate is holden, and those laws and the administration of them, by which the soil constituting the territory of a State, however subdivided among its citizens, with their money and personal effects, however vast in amount or diversified in kind, are transmitted from one generation to another under the title of heirs, devisees, or creditors. Our subject has little to do with the heroic achievements of a State, with the magnificence of its public works, or the celebrity of its literature. It has little concern with that external grandeur of a people, which, while it dazzles the eyes of mankind, too often, like the whited sepulchre, serves only to conceal the poverty and rottenness within. But if the question be as to the real soundness of a community; if the question be as to the aggregate of the comforts and enjoyments of the individuals who compose it, then has our subject a near relation to its freedom and happiness. With less invention than is often employed by the historian, the government, spirit and condition of a people may be described from a knowledge only of their statutes of descent and distribution. By these we are led into the interior of the mansion, in order to judge of its accommodations and the comforts of its inmates, instead of forming our estimate of them by an outside view. This succession of the living to the property and rights of the dying by uniform rules, it should be recollected, is the creature of positive law; and while it has proved the most difficult, it is at the same time among the greatest and most beneficent achievements of civilized man. Taking the usual estimate of time for one generation, it follows that in every thirty-four years, the whole amount of every thing among men and upon the earth, wherein right and property can be claimed by the myriads of human beings that are placed upon it, undergoes this transfer. And if a country can be found, where this immense operation is carried on by laws founded on the broad basis of expediency and justice, adequate to all the exigencies that can happen, so that nothing is left without a rightful proprietor, securing and protecting alike the rights of all, the strong and the weak, the adult and the infant, even though it may not yet have seen the light; if, I say, a community can be found, where this intricate and wonderful operation is continually going on, and almost unobserved, because it is without waste, without fraud, without litigation and nearly without expense, we need go no further for proof of the wisdom of its legislation; we need make no other appeal to satisfy us of the intelligence and moral condition of such a people. Indulging the belief that the object of legislation in this important branch of civil polity was never more nearly attained than it is in this State, can it be without its interest, may we not even find it useful, to contemplate the origin, and trace the progress of those principles and views which from time to time have been recognized and sanctioned by the legislative power, and are now embodied into a system commonly known as our Probate Law? At the time of the emigration of our ancestors, the feudal system pervaded Europe. A more gigantic or cunningly devised engine to make lords of the few and vassals of the many could not be imagined. Indeed this was the heart and life blood of it. All grants of territory in the western hemisphere by the European sovereigns, had hitherto been made to the adventurers, as their vassals, upon the principles of this system. But most fortunately for mankind, there still remained in Eng is done by cutting round the part of the head where the hair grows, and then pulling it hard, which strips off the skin of the head close to the scull, which they carry off as a trophy and token of victory. The women do all the hard labour, such as cutting down trees, planting corn, carrying burdens, &c. Their children as soon as they are born are put into a tub or pond of cold water and washed, and are so bathed every morning, and then tied flat with their backs to a board, * which occasions them to be hardy and exactly straight; so that it is a miracle to see a crooked or deformed Indian. They are generally treacherous, suspicious, and jealous, but have tolerable good notions of natural justice. They have often made treaties with the people of New-England in the solemnest manner, and have as often broke them upon trifling occasions, when spirited up by the French; and tho' they have frequently given hostages for the performance of the articles of the treaties concluded on their parts, those hostages have made their escape and the Indians have again committed hostilities on the English.† Being one day to wait on governour Dudley, and discoursing about that country, and of the great numbers of inhabitants that it contained in so little time after its first settlements, among other things, he gave as the following relations: he said that some of his ancestors were the first Europeans which made a settlement in that country, they having obtained leave from the natives to build a fort, in order to preserve and secure 'em from any insults those people might offer upon any disagreement or misunderstanding; their fort was double pallisado'd, and could make a tolerable defence against lances, bows, and arrows, which were the only weapons the natives had. It happened one *See Josselyn's voyage to N. Eng. 128. ↑ Reference is here made to the affair of Maj. Waldron with the Indians. |