the post-office department. On the 3d of May, 1775, he was appointed, by the Committee of Safety of New York, postmaster of that city; and he was subsequently superintendent of the Eastern post, his appointment being confirmed by the Continental Congress. On the 30th of August, 1776, he was requested by the Committee of Safety for the State to "immediately remove his office to some convenient place near Dobbs's Ferry, till further orders;" and, when New York was evacuated by the Americans, the post-office was transferred with the army. In 1777, he was appointed surveyor of the post-roads and offices throughout the United States; and, until 1782, he was accustomed, in performing the duties of his office, to travel on horseback from New Hampshire to Georgia. In the year last named, he was appointed postmaster-general of the United States, as successor to Richard Bache, who had succeeded Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster-general under the authority of Congress. Hazard's commission was dated 28th January, 1782. He held the office seven years, until the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, residing part of the time in Philadelphia, and concluding his term of service in New York. The reader will share his disappointment, as he reads his letters to Dr. Belknap at this period, in his not being confirmed in that office. He now returned to Philadelphia, and once more entered into active business, while he always took a prominent part in the public proceedings of the time. He was one of the founders of the United States Tontine, an association of merchants for mutual assurance, and which he was afterwards instrumental in converting into the Insurance Company of North America, one of the oldest and most important companies in the State. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, and Fellow of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He was also an active member of the Presbyterian Church, of which he was an elder, and was one of the trustees of the Old Church, of that denomination, in Wall Street, New York. The important contributions he made to the department of history, in his valuable " Historical Collections/' have been already referred to. After the establishment of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mr. Hazard was one of its earliest corresponding members, his name standing at the head of the first list of nominations made. He died in Philadelphia, 13th June, 1817. Mr. Hazard married, on the 11th of September, 1783, Abigail Arthur, daughter of Joseph Arthur, of Boston. They had four children, — William Gordon, Samuel, Erskine, and Elizabeth Breese. She married the Rev. Thomas E. Vermilye, D.D., of the Reformed Dutch Church in New York. Samuel Hazard lived to a great age, and was well known for his numerous historical works.* In an appendix to the second volume are published the letters addressed to Dr. Belknap in answer to the queries of Judge Tucker, relating to slavery in Massachusetts. Following these are several other letters and documents, which illustrate the general subject. A prefatory note to these papers will give the necessary explanation. The Publishing Committee will add, in conclusion, that they have not proposed to themselves any elaborate annotation of these volumes. The letters did not seem to require it. A few notes have been made. The Christian names of many persons introduced into the correspondence without those important prefixes have been supplied, where they could be ascertained, in an excellent index, placed at the end of the second volume; and this plan has seemed to obviate the necessity of more frequent footnotes. Charles Deane, For the Publishing Committee. Boston, Dec. 1,1876. * A large part of the material for this sketch of the life of Mr. Hazard was kindly communicated by Mr. Willis P. Hazard, a son of Mr. Samuel Hazard, residing in West Chester, Penn. OFFICERS OF THE ^ MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Elected April 20, 1876. |lrmbent HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, LL.D Boston. $lce-|)resibettis. HON. CHARLES F. ADAMS, LL.D Boston. HON. EMORY WASHBURN, LL.D Cambridge. Ilecorbmg Secretary. CHARLES DEANE, LL.D Cambridge. Corresponding §ttr*tar|r. REV. CHANDLER ROBBINS, D.D Boston. Creamer. HON. RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, LL.D Boston. librarian. SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D Boston. Cabwet-JUeper. WILLIAM S. APPLETON, A.M Boston. Startbmg Committee. EDMUND QUINCY, A.M Dedham. WILLIAM G. BROOKS, ESQ Boston, CHARLES C. SMITH, ESQ Boston. REV. H. W. FOOTE Boston. REV. G. E. ELLIS, D.D Boston. |