Herald Of The Times

VALUABLE DONATION.

We are gratified to learn, that the Redwood Library and Atheneum, in this town, has recently been presented by the British Government with a copy of the magnificent collection of Public Records, published in England, within a few years past, under the superintendence of the Record Commission. These are comprised in seventy volumes, large folio, and embrace not only many invaluable documents nearly out of print, but others, which having hitherto never been published, are now drawn by the authority of the Government, from the immense repositories in the Tower, the Rolls' Chapel, the Chapter House, the State Paper Office, &c. &c. The collection contains the celebrated Survey of England, compiled by order of William the Conqueror, called Domesday Book; Rymer's collection of the Treaties, Conventions, letters, and public acts of the Kings of England and other Sovereigns; an edition of the Statutes of the Realm, &c. and in short whatever may be most essential to a thorough investigation of the History, Laws, Government, and Condition, of the great country from which we derive our settlement in this New World, and some of the best features in our own liberal institutions.

We understand, that our State and Town are indebted for this munificent gift to the zeal and exertions of a gentleman, who has for some time been domiciled among us, (R. Johnston, Esq. formerly of Jamaica,) and who on all occasions, is prompt to manifest his devotion to the interests of letters, and to every feasible means of advancing them in this favored community. The British Government, it is known, with an enlightened liberality, of which there are few examples, presented a short time since upwards of twenty sets of this collection to different Colleges and Institutions in the United States, and among others one to Brown University. Conceiving that the Redwood Library in this town, one of the oldest and most valuable depositories of literature, which had been founded in America during our connexion with England, would, if brought to the notice of its Government, be similarly favored, the gentleman referred to made interest with a friend in London, and by an appeal to the Lords Commissioners of the Record Office, through the influence of the present Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, (a native of Boston) the object has been effected. The set, valued at $1200, may be expected, we understand, by the next packet from England.

While adverting to this subject, and to the enlightened zeal for the diffusion of knowledge, which has marked, in this instance, the conduct of a Foreign Government; we cannot but express the hope, that Congress, or the State authorities where the collections have been distributed so liberally, will think it due to their own dignity and standing to make some prompt, if not an adequate return for such valuable donations. We have nothing of course in this country, which can compare with these papers, for rarity and antiquity—but the least we can do, would be to present to the principal Literary Institutions of Great Britain, copies of the valuable collection of American State Papers, now in course of publication, by the printers to the Senate. This, at least, would manifest the strong sensibility with which these gifts are regarded.