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This 206-page volume contains essays and poetry composed by Henry Hulton, an American Loyalist living in Boston in the mid-1770s. Essay topics include conflicts between Great Britain and the North American colonies in 1773 and 1775, philosophical and moral subjects, and the effect of climate on the development of governments.

This 206-page volume contains essays and poetry composed by Henry Hulton, an American Loyalist living in Boston in the mid-1770s. Essay topics include conflicts between Great Britain and the North American colonies in 1773 and 1775, philosophical and moral subjects, and the effect of climate on the development of governments.

The first 149 pages contain essays on a variety of topics, including greed, life advice for a young army officer, and philosophical and moral issues. One essay, titled "On Climates," discusses the effects that weather might have on civilizations' development and success, and provides specific examples from human history (pages 61-92). Two essays written in North America in 1773 and 1775 concern the conflict and eventual rift between Great Britain and the American colonists. The first (pages 97-110) explores the British government's protective role in North America, and concludes that the colonies' most productive course of action would be to maintain a formal relationship with Great Britain. The second essay (pages 111-117) contains the author's thoughts on war's collateral damage, accompanied by examples from European campaigns of the Seven Years' War. Two additional essays reflect the author's travels in Canada, including a side-by-side comparison between life in London, England, and in Canada (pages 123-126). The final essay is a "critique on a poem," with brief interspersed examples (pages 131-149).

The remaining 55 pages consist of odes and other poems, including one dedicated to "Earl Percy at Boston On St. George's Day" in 1775 (pages 151-159). Other poetry includes 2 translations of Latin poems as well as poems about masonry, John Milton, and the "Chester Walls." Some essays and poems are preceded by 1 or 2 quotations, often taken from the Bible or from Latin authors such as Cicero, Horace, Lucan, Marcus Manilius, Petronius, Tibullus, and Virgil. The volume has the bookplate of Sir Thomas Preston, Henry Hulton's son.

The Richard Oswald collection contains three of Oswald's memoranda ("Plans for Russian Conquest of the North-West Coast--1781," "London, 9th August 1779--General Observations, Relative to the Present State of the War," and "Supplement to the Papers of August 1779 Relative to the State of the Present War") and three letters to and from Oswald concerning the Revolutionary War.

The Richard Oswald collection contains three memoranda and two letters written by Oswald, as well as a letter written to Oswald by William Pulteney, all spanning 1779-1783.

Volume One contains two memoranda of 1779: the 72-page "General Observations, Relative to the Present State of the War" and its continuation, the 33-page "Supplement to the Papers of August." In the former, Oswald anticipates a prolonged conflict (p. 25: "…if we wish to have a good Peace, we ought to prepare for a long War.") and speculates on the relationship between the Americans and French ("…I am of opinion that we have a much better chance of making France tired of the Contest by taking of America, than of recovering America by dint of our attack upon France." [p. 9]). He also suggests that the British "break the Internal Union amongst these Colonies by Dismembering one part from the other" (p. 27), and recommends that this be accomplished by expeditions into Georgia and South Carolina. In the "Supplement," Oswald doubts the value of "be[ing] so tenacious of every Individual part of these possessions as to suppose that the preservation thereof, in the Interim of this War, may not cost more than it is worth" (p. 2). He also comments further on the French, and emphasizes the necessity of taking possession of Charleston, South Carolina, in order to defeat the Americans (p. 9).

Volume Two of the Richard Oswald collection contains a 1780 letter from William Pulteney announcing the surrender of Charleston, South Carolina, and two letters by Oswald to unspecified recipients. In the earlier of the two letters, dated November 16, 1782, Oswald described the willingness of the Americans to continue fighting ("America would carry on the War with Eng'd for 50 years rather than subscribe to…evidence of their own iniquity…") and treaty negotiations concerning the treatment of Loyalists. In the later letter, dated January 8, 1783, he discussed the conflict over rights to cod fishing in Newfoundland. Also included is a memorandum written by Oswald and dated April 12, 1781, suggesting the formation of a Russo-British alliance in order to attack Mexico and California, and thereby challenge Spain in the New World. The 19-page document, entitled "Plans for Russian Conquest of the North-West Coast--1781," presents the unusual idea as an inexpensive way of "cripling [sic] the power of the Bourbon Family for ever."