called to the Bar while still a minor,-at an early age Solicitor of the Eastern Circuit,-when not thirty years old Judge of the Superior Courts of the Eastern District, a Major of Cavalry in the war of 1812-15,State Senator in 1822,-occupying a seat in the Senate of the United States in 1825,-four years afterwards Attorney General of the United States,-again a Senator from Georgia in 1841 and 1847,-filling other prominent positions within the gift of his fellow-citizens proud of his culture, probity, attainments, and ability, the most accomplished lawyer Georgia ever gave to a court-room State or Federal,--thoroughly versed in the "nice, sharp quillets of the law," yet demonstrating at all times, by act and argument, that law was indeed, as my Lord Coke would have it, "the perfection of reason,”---acquainted with the traditions of his people local and national,—a type of the exact scholar and thorough gentleman;

JAMES MOORE WAYNE, Vice President,--another son of Nassau Hall, a favorite pupil of John Y. Noel, Judge Chauncey, and of Richard M. Stites,-in turn Judge of the Superior Courts of the Eastern District, member of Congress, and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, a model of manly beauty, and a Chesterfield in deportment;

MATTHEW HALL MCALLISTER,--Vice President,-a genial companion,—a famous advocate,--and, toward the evening of his life, elevated to the Bench as Federal Judge for the District of California;

ISRAEL K. TEFFT,--Corresponding Secretary,-an ardent devotee of the past,--a famous collector of autographletters and historical documents, especially of such as illustrated our Revolutionary period, looking upon the time-stained paper whereon some famous hand had writ

"With greater love than the self-lov'd Narcissus

Did on his beauty,"—

the fons et origo of the Society;

GEORGE W. HUNTER,--Treasurer,-managing with care the slender finances of the Institution;

HENRY K. PRESTON,-Librarian,-acquainted with books and of scholarly tastes;

WILLIAM THORNE WILLIAMS, always active in measures which had for their object the promotion of education and the amelioration of the intellectual status of the community, a Captain of the Chatham Artillery in the war of 1812,--and, during a long life, a lover and publisher of books;

CHARLES S. HENRY,-lawyer, Judge, and urbane gentleman;

JOHN C. NICOLL, of Roman virtue, exact habit, and most retentive memory, careful in noting the passing event,-a walking encyclopædia,--full of calm thought,-much given to patient investigation, and executing his office of District Judge with a firmness, ability, and erudition worthy of all commendation;

WILLIAM LAW,--than whom no more courteous gentleman, eloquent advocate, profound jurist, and fair-minded Judge ever adorned Society and maintained the standard of true excellency in this beautiful City of Oglethorpe ;

ROBERT M. CHARLTON,--counsellor, advocate, Judge, poet, essayist, friend,--the mention of whose name revivifies the electric chain which binds us to all that is pure in life, sweet in companionship, and undefiled in thought and act;

ALEXANDER A. SMETS,-successful merchant, citizen of public spirit, and bibliophile of unusual knowledge,-in constant communion with books, and surrounding him

self with much that was choice and rare in the world of letters;

WILLIAM BACON STEVENS,-energetic and earnest,-eager to familiarize himself with the men and events reflecting distinction upon his adopted State, a professor of belles lettres and history in the University of Georgia,—and, at a later period, Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania;

and last, but not least, RICHARD D. ARNOLD, whose name and fame and loves are intimately associated with the annals of this City and Society, the skillful physician, the generous friend,-given to profuse and refined hospitality, the honored Mayor and trusted legislator,— foremost in every good work which could enure to the material benefit and civilization of Savannah,-the life and soul of every public convocation,-a Luttrell among wits,- -a ministering angel when the shadows of want and pestilence darkened these streets,-of excellent literary taste, and possessing a memory as tenacious of incidents, characters, and letters, as though they had been graven with a diamond's point upon a tablet of agate these were they who, in 1839, were selected as the first officers of the Georgia Historical Society. Surely, from out the entire circuit of this community none more competent or trustworthy could have been chosen.

Fifty years have not yet elapsed and, with a single exception, all are numbered with the dead. So like to a short summer is human life.

Of the original Resident Members of the Society one may not enumerate more than fourteen now in being, and most of them are rapidly hastening onward to that extreme verge beyond which it is not permitted the children of men to linger.

Such is the sad side of the retrospect which the recurrence of this Anniversary suggests. And yet, apart from the sorrow which the demise of the good, the useful, and the loved always causes, there is nothing unusual in the fact that upon the flight of these two score years and more we should be forcibly reminded of the operation of that inexorable law

"All that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity."

Although these founders of our Society have been gathered to their fathers, the temple which they planned survives, and subsequent years have strengthened its walls and enriched its porches. The purpose they conceived found encouragement at the hands of those who came after them. The charities of the benevolent and the intellectual gravitated hitherward, and thus has it come to pass that within the fair borders of this charming City there exists no more attractive edifice, no retreat more seductive, no more cultured resort than HODGSON HALL. Long may this institution remain the pride of Savannah and the honor of Georgia.

At the date of the inception of the Georgia Historical Society, aside from tracts encouraging the foundation of the Colony and furnishing accounts of its development under the guidance of the Trustees and during the early years of its existence,-but two histories of Georgia had been published.

There appeared in London, in 1779, anonymously, but, as we now know, from the pen of the Reverend Alexander Hewatt,—a Presbyterian Clergyman and a former resident of Charleston,-who had departed thence when he perceived that an open rupture between the Crown and

the Thirteen Colonies in North America was imminent,two octavo volumes entitled "An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia." While in this work the Colonial history of Georgia is narrated at some length, the attention of the author was chiefly occupied with a recital of events connected with the establishment and growth of the Colony of South Carolina. His labors ended with the dawn of the Revolution: and this history, then long out of print, was inaccessible to the general reader.

Soon after the formation of the General Government Mr. Edward Langworthy, at first a pupil and then a teacher at Whitefield's Orphan House, afterwards an enthusiastic "Liberty Boy," Secretary of the Provincial Congress of Georgia, and one of the early representatives from Georgia in the Congress of the Confederated States,-formed the design of writing a history of this State. Of fair attainments, and personally acquainted with the leading men and transactions of the period, he was well qualified for the task, and addressed himself with energy to the collection of materials requisite for the undertaking. It would appear, from a published prospectus of the work printed in the Georgia Gazette, that this history was actually written. Suitable encouragement however, not having been encountered, the contemplated publication was never made. Mr. Langworthy died at Elkton, in Maryland, early in the present century, and all efforts to recover both his manuscript and the supporting documents which he had amassed have thus far proved utterly abortive.

From the press of Seymour and Williams of Savannah was issued, in 1811, the first volume of Major Hugh McCall's "History of Georgia ;" and this was followed,