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March 3.--Annual meeting of the Dedham Historical Society. The Act of
the General Court, empowering the society to hold real estate to the
amount of $25,000, was accepted, as was the bequest of land and money
from the late Hannah Shuttleworth. A memorial sketch of the late Judge
Colburn was read by Erastus Worthington, Esq. The society chose officers
as follows: President, Henry O. Hildreth; Vice-president, Alfred Hewins;
Recording Secretary, John D. Cobb; Treasurer and Librarian, J. H.
Burdakin; Curators, Erastus Worthington, Henry W. Richards, Don Gleason
Hill, J. H. Burdakin, Elijah Howe, Jr.; Auditors, George F. Fisher, A.
Ward Lamson; Chronicler, Don G. Hill; Historiographer, J. H. Tuttle.

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March 9.--Meeting of the Bostonian Society. The essayist was J. M.
Hubbard, whose subject was "Boston, in 1710, Preparing for a Small
War." It appeared during the reading that the military enterprise on
hand was the capture of Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in the hands of
the French. The reason why Boston was peculiarly interested in it was
that this Nova Scotia harbor was a resort and head-quarters for a great
number of French privateers, which made short cruises along this coast,
capturing many merchant-vessels and fishing-craft, greatly to the injury
of the commerce of Boston. The English Government accordingly sent
hither a small fleet with a body of marines, expecting that the force
would be augmented by troops raised in the Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
and New Hampshire provinces. The whole expedition was to be commanded by
Colonel Francis Nicholson, who came in the fleet from England. To
provide for the requirements of the local forces the Provincial Council
of Massachusetts ordered that L15,000 in bills of credit of the province
be printed, which was a ready way to raise the money.

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March 9.--The _Concord Monitor_, in announcing the result of the vote
on this day on the question of calling a constitutional convention, says
that New Hampshire towns have been directed to vote on the expediency of
calling a constitutional convention by the Legislatures of 1799, 1806,
1813, 1820, 1832, 1833, 1837, 1844, 1846, 1849, 1857, 1860, 1862, 1864,
1868, 1869, 1875, 1883, resulting in the conventions of 1850-1 and
1876-7. The proposition had a sufficient majority this time.

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