Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania

ficient in itself to compensate for the time and labor given to the task, although both were greater than any one who has not undertaken a similar experiment can conceive.

With the result of my researches before me, I felt my inability to give the work that literary finish necessary in a publication of this kind. In seeking for some one to assist me in this all-important labor, my choice fell upon SAMUEL P. BATES, LL. D., and member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, who kindly consented to undertake it. He brought to the task a ripe experience, as the author of the History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, and numerous educational works, which, with his scholarly ability and judgment, is full warrant that it has been finished with fidelity and success. The labor was one of no small magnitude, and for his kind offices I here tender him my most grateful acknowledgments.

The endeavor has been to give a graphic and comprehensive record of the public acts of each Governor, free from any partisan influence, and to allow each one to speak for himself through the history of his public career. Joseph R. Chandler has well said: "In all countries the character of the great and the good has been deemed part of the public fame; and nations which have derived political or pecuniary advantage from the talents and labors of their distinguished citizens living, have put in a claim to the posthumous credit of these men, as if a portion at least was to escheat to the benefit of the Commonwealth."

In harmony with this sentiment have the following pages been compiled. A record of the lives of our Governors, free from the partisan hate and the slanderous allusions that political warfare has engendered, is here presented. No fear of criticism, inspired by a difference of political faith, has prevented our speaking of each individual Governor in fit terms of eulogy. We are proud to believe that a nobler list is not possessed by any State in the Union, nor one whose public acts will bear closer scrutiny.

In addition to the biographical sketches of the Executive officers, there is also preserved in connection therewith a

complete epitome of the history of the State from its origin to the present time. It is believed that this will prove one of the most interesting and valuable features of the work.

It would be mere pedantry to refer to all the sources of information that we have consulted, but we cannot omit mention of the following valuable works: - Colonial Records and Pennsylvania Archives; Hazard's Annals of Pennsylvania; Hazard's Register; Niles' Register; Smith's History of Delaware County; Watson's Annals of Philadelphia; Proud's History of Pennsylvania; Gordon's History of Pennsylvania; Publications of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; National Portrait Gallery; Griswold's Republican Court; Creigh's History of Washington County; I. D. Rupp's Histories of the several Counties of the State; Sanderson's and Goodrich's Signers of the Declaration; Documentary History of New York; Drake's Dictionary of American Biography; Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania; Dawson's Historical Magazine; Bancroft's History of the United States; Irving's Life of Washington; Lossing's Battlefields of the Revolution, and Pictorial History; and Westcott's History of Philadelphia, now being published in the Sunday Dispatch.

To Dr. William H. Egle, of Harrisburg, the compiler is under special obligations for much aid in facilitating the prosecution of his task, and for the use of his valuable historical library. The following gentlemen, also, rendered me invaluable aid in furnishing data: John K. Findlay, Philadelphia; Joseph Ritner, Mechanicsburg; William A. Porter, Philadelphia; William Moore, Clearfield; James W. Clarke, Williamsport; Alexander K. McClure, Philadelphia; Wien Forney, Harrisburg; A. L. Russell, Adjutant-General, Harrisburg.

I am also indebted for many friendly offices to Hon. F. Jordan, Secretary of the Commonwealth; Hon. J. P. Wickersham, Superintendent of Common Schools; John McCurdy, Superintendent of Public Printing, Harrisburg; A. Boyd Hamilton, Harrisburg; Rev. James Shrigley, Librarian, and John Jordan, Jr., Townsend Ward, and Ferdinand J. Dreer,

members of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Thompson Westcott, editor Sunday Dispatch of Philadelphia; William Dorsey, Philadelphia; Horace W. Smith, Falls of Schuylkill; and J. Smith Futhey, of West Chester. The warmth with which their services were rendered will always be a source of pleasant remembrance.

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