Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/20

The difficulties attending even such an undertaking as this, were soon perceived to be greater than had been expected. In several of the English colonies, either no accounts whatever, or such vague accounts of their transactions have been given, that long intervals of time pass away without furnishing a single document relative to their affairs. In others very circumstantial details of their original settlements have been published, but the relation stops at an early period. In New England alone has the history of any colony been continued to the war of our independence; Mr. Belknap, Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Minot have faithfully transmitted to those who succeed them, the events which occurred in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Mr. Trumbull is engaged in a similar undertaking for Connecticut, but has not yet progressed far in its execution. In New York, Mr. Smith has made a valuable commencement; and in Virginia Mr. Stith, and Mr. Beverly, have detailed at great length the hardships of the original settlers; but in the other colonies, until we reach South Carolina and Georgia, scarcely an attempt has been made at a history of any sort. To the reign of William and Mary, Mr. Chalmer has furnished almost all the facts which the historian of the United States would require. It is