nd papers chiefly
relating to the United States of America. It was Hartley's copy, in his
own hand.

"The lot was No. 82 in the sale catalogue. It was bought by J. R. Smith,
the London bookseller, for L2 6_s._ 0_d._

"I had a copy made before the sale.

"_Joseph Parkes._

"London, 18 July, '59."

The letter is as follows:--

"MY LORD,--In your Lordship's last letter to me, just before
my leaving Paris, you are pleased to say that any
information which I might have been able to collect of a
nature to promote the mutual and reciprocal interests of
Great Britain and the United States of America would be
extremely acceptable to his Majesty's government.... Annexed
to this letter I have the honor of transmitting to your
Lordship some papers and documents which I have received
from the American Ministers. One of them (No. 5) is a Map of
the Continent of North America, in which the land ceded to
them by the late treaty of peace is divided, by parallels of
latitude and longitude, into fourteen new States. The whole
project, in its full extent, would take many years in its
execution, and therefore it must be far beyond the present
race of men to say, 'This shall be so.' Nevertheless, _those
who have the first care of this New World will probably give
it such directions and inherent influences as may guide and
control its course and revolutions for ages to come_. But
these plans, being beyond the reach of man to predestinate,
are likewise beyond the reach of comment or speculation to
say what may or may not be possible, or to predict what
events may hereafter be produced by time, climates, soils,
adjoining nations, or by the unwieldy magnitude of empire,
and _the future population of millions superadded to
millions_. The sources of the Mississippi may be unknown.
The lines of longitude and latitude may be extended into
unexplored regions, and the plan of this new creation may be
sketched out by a presumptuous compass, if all its
intermediate uses and functions were to be suspended until
the final and precise accomplishment, without failure or
deviation, of this unbounded plan. But this is not the case;
the immediate objects in view are limited and precise; they
are of prudent thought, and within the scope of human power
to measure out and to