F 22 
 .H38 
 
Class. 
 Book. 
 
REMARKS 
 
 r O P 11 A M CELEBRATION 
 
 nine Ibtorinil <§0cictn; 
 
 READ P.EFDEE THE AMERICAN ANTIQTJARTAN SOCIETY 
 
 ApitiL 20, 1805. 
 
 By S. F. haven. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
 18G5. 
 
34518 
 
 ^ O v^ 
 
POPHAM CELEBRATION. 
 
 Among the books recently received is a volume of 
 five hundred and twelve pages, bearing this title, 
 " Memorial Volume of the Popham Celebration, 
 August 29, 1862, commemorative of the Planting of 
 the Popham Colony on the Peninsula of Sabino, 
 August 19, O.S., 1607, estabhshing the Title of Eng- 
 land to the Continent." 
 
 It is the record of an effort on the part of the His- 
 torical Society of Maine to substantiate certain new 
 views relating to the possession and settlement of this 
 continent ; and to perpetuate their recognition by the 
 most formal and solemn proceedings, and by durable 
 monuments and inscriptions. 
 
 It may be expected that other Historical Societies, 
 and especially the American Antiquarian Society, will 
 give to these claims so much attention as shall be 
 necessary to determine how far they are entitled to 
 general acceptance. 
 
 The ceremonies described in the " Memorial Vol- 
 ume" were of the most elaborate and impressive 
 
" Til Moinoiy of 
 
 Who lirst, from the vshores of England, 
 
 rouniknl !V*Ci>lony in New England, 
 
 Angnst, KtOT. 
 
 lie brought into those wilds 
 
 English laws and learning. 
 
 And the faith and the t'hnreh of Christ." 
 
 '• This l\>rt." doflaros the orator. '' so conspicuously 
 placed, bcarini; these appropriate testimonials, thus 
 becomes a tittim;- monument to perpetuate the events 
 ot' the (\uly history of New England, and transmit to 
 future times the memory of those illustrious men 
 who laid the fi>uudatiou of English colonies in 
 America. " 
 
 These statements, as may be supposed, were re- 
 peated in various forms, and enlarged upon, in the 
 coiuse of the proceedings recorded in the '' Memorial 
 Volume." 
 
 At the tinu^ appointed for the celebration, the mar- 
 shal o( the day annoiuiced the purpose and plan of 
 the ceremonies, as intended to recall and illustrate the 
 events of the past, and to assign to ^[aine her true 
 liistoric position. 
 
 The Bishop of the Diocese then proceeded to the 
 religious duties of the occasion ; using, we are told, as 
 nearlv as the changed circumstances o( the case 
 w ould allow. •• the same services as were employed by 
 the colonists in their solemnities on the day com- 
 memorated, under the guidance of their chaplain, the 
 Eev. Kiehard Sevmour." 
 
These services, from the Episcopal Prayer-book, 
 Avere followed by a narrative of historical events by 
 the President of the Historical Society. 
 
 The " Memorial Stone " was then rolled forward 
 into view, — a mass of granite weighing six tons, and 
 showing a front of six feet by four ; and the President 
 of Bowdoin College solicited the consent of the State 
 and General Government to its being placed in the 
 wall of the fort, " in memory of the colony which 
 was established there two hundred and fifty-five years 
 ago," — " that noble company of one hundred and 
 twenty colonists who established themselves at the 
 mouth of the Sagadahoc." 
 
 Hon. Abner Coburn responded on behalf of tlic 
 Governor of the State ; and Captain Casey, of the 
 United-States Bureau of Engineers, gave the assent of 
 the President, acting through the Secretary of War. 
 The President of the College next called upon the 
 Freemasons to cause the stone to be erected accord- 
 ing to the ancient rites of their Order. 
 
 After these solemnities, the orator of the day de- 
 livered his address ; which was followed by a series of 
 sentiments and speeches, and the reading of letters, at 
 the table. 
 
 The toasts had been previously printed, and were 
 published and circulated beforehand, with the pro- 
 gramme of the exercises ; having been framed with 
 deliberation, and carefully adjusted to the purposes of 
 the occasion. Among the earliest were these : — 
 
8 
 
 "The lOlh of August (O.S.), 1007, — over luomorable as the 
 (lay that wituossotl tho consuinniatloii of the title of Knglaud to 
 the Now ^Vol•lll," 
 
 ''The memory of George I'opham, who led hither the lirst 
 Juiglish Colouy, became the head of its goveniiuent, »S:c., and letl 
 his bones to mingle with the soil," &c. 
 
 " ISir John l\>phani, — mider the shadow of whose great name 
 was laid the foundation of the colossal Empire of the New 
 AVorld." 
 
 Far down, below the salt, we liiul [the twenty-sev- 
 eiitli toast] — 
 
 "Plymouth riautation, — founded by men of strong faith, of 
 earnest piety. Educated under the teachings of Kobiusou and 
 Brewster at Leydeu, they were litted to become pioneers in the 
 new movement towards civil and religious liberty." 
 
 Two steps farther down, we have — 
 
 "The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, — founded, in 1G29, by 
 men of tlie same uucouquerable will as those that brought royalty 
 to the block, and discarded prescription as heresy. Their de- 
 scendants have ever shown a taithful adherence to the doctrine of 
 ''Cni/orniih/.'"* 
 
 The address of the orator of the day is an endeavor 
 to maintain, aro:umentativelv and rhetoricallv, the 
 points assumed in the preceding quotations. It con- 
 tains many quite extraordinary historical statements, 
 Avhich are not necessary to be reproduced here, as 
 
 * Ex-Governor Washburn, of Massachusetts, was called upon to respond 
 to tliis toast ; and. after good-uatur'edly iutimating his siu"prise at some of the 
 points which had been assimicd, confessed that he had been \itterly disarmed 
 by the courtesies he liad shared, and would no longer protest against any 
 thing : and if anybody were to insist that Xoah's Ark landed on one of 
 those lulls, and would get up a celebration like that to commemorate it, he 
 would volunteer to come and take a part in it. without doubting it was true. 
 
9 
 
 they have but a remote bearing on the principal ques- 
 tions. It begins thus : — 
 
 " We commciuorate to-day the great event of American liis- 
 tory. We are assembled on the spot that witnessed the first 
 formal act of possession of New England by a British colony, 
 under the authority of a Royal Charter. We have come here, on 
 the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of that event, to rejoice 
 in the manifold blessings that have tlowed to us from that act ; to 
 place on record a testimonial of our appreciation of that day's 
 work ; and to transmit to future generations an expression of our 
 regard for the illustrious men who laid the foundation of England's 
 title to the Continent, and gave a new direction to the history of 
 the world." 
 
 The argument is, in brief, as follows : — 
 
 "The question Europeans were called upon to solve at tlie 
 commencement of the seventeenth century was, who should here- 
 after occupy and possess the temperate zone of the New World ? 
 All previous explorations were preliminary eiForts to this object ; 
 but the question remained open and undecided, 
 
 " England, practically abandoning all claims from the discover- 
 ies of Cabot on the Atlantic, and Drake on the Pacific, laid down, 
 in 1580, the broad doctrine, that prescription without occupation 
 was of no avail ; that possession of the country was essential to 
 the maintenance of title. 
 
 " The possession of Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert 
 was abandoned on his loss at sea. 
 
 "Of the two colonies sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, one 
 returned ; the other perished in the country, leaving no trace of 
 its history. 
 
 "Thus, at the period of Elizabeth's death in 1G03, England 
 had not a colonial possession on the globe. 
 
 " Charaplain accompanied Pont Grave to the St. Lawrence in 
 1G03. On his return to France, he found Acadia granted by the 
 French monarch to De Mouts, under date of Nov. 8, 1G03, ex- 
 
10 
 
 tending across tlie continent between the fortieth and forty-sixth 
 degrees of nortli hititude. To make sure of the country, Cham- 
 plain, Champdore, and L'Escarbot remained three and a half years. 
 Returning to France in 1C07, they found the charter of De Moats 
 revoked. 
 
 " This short-sightedness of Henry of Navarre cost France the 
 dominion of the New World. 
 
 " For, in 1605, Gorges, associating with himself the Earl of 
 Soutluvmpton, petitioned the king for a charter, which he obtained 
 April 10, ICOG, gi'anting to George Popham and seven others" (it 
 should be Sir Thomas Gates and seven others; Popham is the last 
 named) " the Continent of North America, from the tliirty-fourth 
 to the forty-hfth degrees of north latitude. 
 
 " This charter is the basis on which rests the title of our race 
 to the New World. 
 
 " The venerable Sir John Popham became the patron of the 
 company, . . . though his name was not in the charter, or included 
 among the council. 
 
 " Two unsuccessful attempts at planting a colony Avere made in 
 IGOG. On the 31st of May, 1G07, the first colony to New Eng- 
 land sailed from Plymouth for the Sagadalioc, in two ships, the 
 'Gift of God,' George Popham commander, and the 'Mary and 
 John,' commanded by Raleigh Gilbert, on board which ships 
 Avere one hundred and twenty persons for planters. On the lOth 
 of August, all went on shore at the month of the river, where 
 they had a sermon from their preacher ; the President's commis- 
 sion was read, with the patent, and the laws to be observed ; and 
 George Popham was nominated President, &c. 
 
 " Thus commenced the first occupation and settlement of New 
 England. From August 10 (O.S.), 1607, the title of England to 
 the NcAV World w^as maintained. 
 
 " It is well known, that the Popham Colony, or a portion of 
 them, returned to England in 1608 ; but this possession proved 
 sufficient to establish the title. The revocation of the charter of 
 De Monts gave priority to the grant of King James, covering the 
 same territory ; and this formal act of possession W'as ever after 
 upheld by an assertion of the title by Gorges." 
 
11 
 
 The orator repeats, that England stoutly mauitaincd, 
 that, without possession, there was no valid title to a 
 newly-discovered country. " This view," he says, " is 
 overlooked by Puritan writers, and those who follow 
 their authority." lie does not tell us how it hap- 
 pened, if priority of discovery by the Cabots, and 
 formal acts of possession by Gilbert, Gosnold, and 
 others, established no rights, the British Government 
 could convey any title, by charter, to a country already 
 occupied by the subjects of other powers. 
 
 The only allusions to the colony of Gosnold and 
 the settlement of Jamestown are where he claims 
 that Gorges was concerned in the voyage of Gosnold, 
 and in the following passages : — 
 
 " It may be said, that, in giving this prominence to the occupa- 
 tion of the country by the colony of Popham, we overlook other 
 events of importance in establishing the English title, — the pos- 
 session of the ELlisabeth Isles by Gosnold in 1G02, and the settle- 
 ment of Jamestown, May 13, 1607, prior to the landing of the 
 Popham colony at Sagadahoc. 
 
 " In reference to the occupation of Elizabeth Isles by Gosnold, 
 it is sufficient to say, that it was prior to the date of the Eoyal 
 Charter, and consequently of no legal effect in establishing a title. 
 As to the settlement of Jamestown, it was south of the fortieth 
 parallel of latitude, and therefore did not come in conflict with the 
 French king's prior charter to De Monts. 
 
 " Had there been no P^nglish settlement or occupancy north of 
 the fortieth parallel of latitude prior to IGIO, when Poutriucourt 
 obtained a new grant of Acadia, the whole country north of that 
 line must have fallen into the hands of the French." * 
 
 * It is understood, that these paragraphs, referring to the colony of Gos- 
 nold and the settlement of Jamestown, were inserted after the address was 
 delivered. 
 
1'^ 
 
 There is no sufficient opportunity here for a dis- 
 cussion of these propositions ; but it may be instruc- 
 tive to place beside them, in the briefest terms, a 
 different statement, believed to be at least equally 
 well sanctioned by the best historical evidence. 
 
 It is due to the venerable and learned President 
 of the Maine Historical Society to quote from his 
 excellent remarks a passage which is overshadowed 
 by the great mass of opposite sentiment expressed in 
 the " Memorial Volume." Speaking of the Popham 
 settlement, he says, " But, sir, the enterprise failed : 
 death and the stars seemed against it ; and there were 
 ' no more speeches ' by the Northern Company, says 
 Gorges, ' of settling any other plantation in those 
 parts for a long time after.' They were in search of 
 gain, and found it not in peopling a rude continent. 
 It was essentially a commercial company : the princi- 
 ple that moved it was adverse to generous action ; it 
 required another sentiment, the religious element, to 
 give patient endurance, indomitable resolution, and 
 final success, as was signally vindicated in the re- 
 nowned colony of the Pilgrims. The Northern Com- 
 pany made no other attempt at colonization, until 
 they obtained their charter of 1620. We must not 
 claim too much for this unsuccessful attempt to peo- 
 ple a continent, but regard it as one of the steps in 
 the grand march of colonization." 
 
 It could hardly be expected, that the learned Presi- 
 dent would enter a more emphatic protest against 
 
13 
 
 the extravagant claims which persons of less accurate 
 information were disposed to advance, or that he 
 would dwell upon circumstances not in harmony 
 with the general spirit of the occasion ; but it may be 
 permitted to others to say, in the cause of historical 
 truth, and in accordance with the most authentic 
 recorded testimony, — 
 
 First, That the official act of possession, by Sir 
 Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, made in virtue of the 
 original discovery by the Cabots, was of the most 
 formal and perfect character. It was conducted with 
 all prescribed ceremonies for such procedures, in 
 the presence of representatives of every prominent 
 antagonistic power, — the numerous merchants and 
 masters of vessels engaged in the fisheries, — whose 
 assent was signified by loud acclamations, by the 
 acceptance of grants of land, and by consent to taxa- 
 tion ; for the English had, before that time, been 
 regarded as " lords of the harbors," and had exacted 
 a tribute for protection aff"orded to the ships of other 
 nations. So far from being abandoned on the death 
 of Gilbert, the British sovereignty was enforced, two 
 years later, by the seizure of Portuguese vessels, 
 which had collected cargoes without a license ; and 
 it is stated, that, about the year 1600, the English 
 employed at Newfoundland, on land and water, quite 
 ten thousand men and boys.* 
 
 * Sabine's Report. 
 3 
 
14 
 
 Second^ That De Monts took possession of Acadia, 
 not in his own name, but as lieutenant-general of the 
 French king, on whose behalf he set up the arms 
 and insignia of France. The revocation, alleged to 
 be an abandonment or invalidation of the French 
 title, was merely the withdrawal of certain exclusive 
 privileges which had been granted to De Monts for 
 ten years ; while the acts of possession and coloniza- 
 tion were continued and enlarged by the French 
 monarch. The respective rights of the English and 
 French to the possession of New England or of 
 Canada were not settled by a comparison of dates, 
 or the construction of charters, but by the valor of 
 the Massachusetts colony, the force of arms, and 
 subsequent treaties. 
 
 Thirds That the revival of plans of colonization, 
 and their direction to New England, were the results 
 of the voyage of Gosnold in 1602; when he came 
 with a colony for settlement, and, having traversed 
 the coast of Maine, built a fort, and planted grain at 
 Cuttyhunk, on the south shore of Massachusetts. 
 From the fear of inadequate supplies, on the part of 
 his men, he subsequently carried them back to Eng- 
 land, where, by his glowing description of the coun- 
 try and his personal exertions, he was instrumental 
 in the procurement of the great Virginia patent of 
 1606. 
 
 Fourth, That the scheme of a plantation at Saga- 
 dahoc originated with the kidnapping of Indians 
 
15 
 
 from that neighborhood by Weymouth in 1605 ; three 
 of whom came into the possession of Sir Ferdinando 
 Gorges, the projector of the plan, who says it was 
 suggested by information derived from these natives. 
 Chief-Justice Popham, the patron of the undertaking, 
 was reported to be " the first person who invented 
 the plan of sending convicts to the plantations," — 
 which is not precisely true, for the French colonists, 
 under La Hoche and De Monts, had been chiefly 
 composed of convicts from the prisons. But it is 
 said of Popham, that "he not only punished male- 
 factors, but provided for them ; and first set up the 
 discovery of JSfeio England to maintain and employ 
 those that could not live honestly in the OlcV Sir 
 William Alexander, a contemporary witness, testifies 
 that Sir John Popham " sent out the first company 
 that went of purpose to inhabit there, near to Sagada- 
 hoc : but those that went thither being pressed to that 
 enterprise as endangered by the law, or for their own 
 necessities, — no enforced thing being pleasant, — they, 
 after a winter s stay, dreaming to themselves of new 
 hopes at home, returned back with the first occasion ; 
 and, to justify the suddennesse of their returne, they 
 did coyne many excuses, burdening the bounds where 
 they had becne with all the aspersions they could 
 possibly devise ; seeking by that meanes to discourage 
 all others."* 
 
 * The orator at the Maine celebration quotes from Sir WlUiam Alexander 
 the statement, that " Sir John Popham sent out the first company that went 
 
16 
 
 Fifths That this company, of one hundred landmen 
 or colonists according to Gorges, so constituted, had 
 with them several men of standing, as leaders. In- 
 deed, such was the case with every similar enterprise 
 at that period ; and especially just then, when the 
 termination of war with Spain threw large num- 
 bers of land and sea- officers out of employment. 
 They selected a place near the mouth of the Kenne- 
 bec or Sagadahoc, as it was then called, where they 
 built a fort or stockade, and storehouses and habita- 
 tions. More than half of the company are said to 
 have gone back with the ships in December. The 
 residue, forty-five in number, remained till spring ; 
 when, having lost their leader, having quarrelled with 
 the Indians, and had their storehouses burned, they 
 took the first opportunity to leave the country, and 
 gave it so bad a name as to discourage all further 
 attempts at settlement. The business of fishing and 
 traffic with the natives, which had existed on the coasts 
 for nearly a century, was continued, with only such 
 casual occupation of the land as that business re- 
 
 of purpose to inhabit there, near to Sagadahoc," but carefully suppresses the 
 remainder of the passage. 
 
 Another remarkable suppression in the " Memorial Volume " is that of the 
 speech of our associate, J. W. Thornton, Esq., made by invitation in reply to 
 a toast at the table. Mr. Thornton's views of the Maine Colony, and the 
 characters of Gorges and Chief-Justice Popham, were not satisfactory to the 
 Committee having charge of the celebration, and were therefore omitted from 
 their narrative of the proceedings. The speech has since been published by 
 the author, with copious and learned notes, sustaining his positions, and full 
 of minute and curious information relating to colonial history. 
 
17 
 
 quired. * Captain John Smith relates, that, when 
 (about 1614) he went first to the part of the country 
 where this colony had been planted, there was not one 
 Christian in all the land ; and yet Newfoundland at 
 that time freighted annually near eight hundred ships 
 with fish. The very place where Popham's company 
 passed the winter was forgotten, and was a subject of 
 conjecture and controversy until 1849, when the 
 Hakluyt Society of England published, from a newly 
 discovered manuscript, " The Historic of Travaile into 
 Virginia Britannia," by William Strachey, who had 
 been employed as Secretary in the Southern Colony. 
 
 That history contains the only particular account 
 of the expedition of Popham's company, and fixes the 
 spot where they passed the winter. It has not a 
 word about any ceremonies used to signify taking 
 possession of the country ; not a word about Episco- 
 pal services, or the reading of prayers, or liturgy, or 
 any ritual of the Church, even at the burial of their 
 chief. The writer was led to speak of the enterprise, 
 " since it had its end so untimely," and since the order 
 and method of a full history did claim of him " the 
 remembrance of the most material points at least, as 
 well of this late Northern Colony, as of the first planted 
 more south." He closes his narrative by saying. 
 
 * There is an effort in the " Memorial Volume " to make it appear proba- 
 ble that a portion of Popham's men remained in tlie coxmtry. It woukl not 
 have been strange, if some of them had fomid employment among the fisliing 
 vessels ; but Strachey says they all embarked for home. 
 
18 
 
 " And this was the end of that Northern Colony upon 
 the river Sagadahoc." 
 
 If the discovery by the Cabots, and the elaborate 
 acts of occupation and jurisdiction by Sir Humphrey 
 Gilbert, as the direct representative of his sovereign, 
 — subsequently enforced and sustained, — created no 
 permanent rights ; if the colonies of Raleigh, the last 
 of which, if it perished, at least left its bones on the 
 soil, planted no durable claims ; if Gosnold, who was 
 not only the first Englishman, but the first European, 
 who is known to have set up a dwelling on the soil 
 of New England ; who had been sent by the Earl of 
 Southampton for the purpose of continuing Raleigh's 
 plans of colonization ; who gave, names to islands and 
 capes on our coast, which they still retain ; whose 
 particular narratives, thrice told, revived the sinking 
 hopes of the friends of colonization, and whose per- 
 sonal efforts brought about the great revival of such 
 enterprises in 1606, — if all these gave no valid pos- 
 session to the British crown, how can this evanescent 
 company of Sagadahoc, with all its failures and all its 
 injurious influence, be said to have " established the 
 title of England to the continent " ? It did not even 
 establish itself, or leave a distinguishable memorial 
 behind it. What could there be in the charter of 
 1606 to give to feebler demonstrations an efiiciency 
 which equally solemn grants from the same source 
 did not impart to greater and more persistent pro- 
 cedures ] 
 
19 
 
 The orator of the day, towards the close of his 
 address, thought proper to aUude to Massachusetts m 
 a manner that explams the somewhat ambiguous toast 
 which has ah-eady been quoted. He says, — 
 
 " We must not forget our obligations to Massachu- 
 setts and the early settlers of Plymouth for their 
 share in conquering the continent for our race, 
 though dealing harshly with Maine. Those Massa- 
 chusetts Puritans of the Saxon type, inheriting all the 
 gloomy errors of a cruel and bloody period under 
 the iron rule of the Tudors, were ready to demand of 
 Elizabeth the enforcement of the Act of Uniformity 
 against the Papists, but refused obedience to it them- 
 selves." 
 
 Among similar passages, he declares, " They mis- 
 took their hatred of others for hatred of sin. 
 They set up their own morbid convictions as the 
 standard of right." — " Once planted on the shores of 
 New England, the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay en- 
 deavored to exterminate every thing that stood in the 
 way of their ambition," &c., &c. 
 
 Accompanying the records of the Popham celebra- 
 tion is a lecture, by the author of the address, on the 
 claims of Sir Ferdinando Gorges as the Father of 
 English Colonization in America. This had previously 
 been delivered before the Historical Societies of Maine 
 and New York, and now makes a part of the 
 " Memorial Volume." 
 
 A large portion of the lecture is in a strain 
 
20 
 
 resembling that of the extracts taken from the ad- 
 dress, but more acrid and bitter. 
 
 " It is time," the author thinks, " to vindicate the 
 truth of history; to do justice to the claims of Gorges, 
 and to repel the calumnious charges of the men who 
 founded the theocracy of New-England; who per- 
 secuted alike Quakers, Baptists, and Churchmen." 
 " Within the boundaries of the Colony of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, from the time they first landed till the 
 arrival of Sir Edmund Andros, as Governor, in 1686, 
 the Government of Massachusetts Bay was more 
 arbitrary and intolerant than any despotism from 
 which they fled from England." — " The modern 
 popular history of New England has sought to conceal 
 the exact truth, and to throw apology over the 
 greatest offences." — "We find the Massachusetts Pu- 
 ritans persecutors from the outset of their career ; 
 denying the rights of citizenship to all but actual 
 church members, and refusing others protection even 
 against the Indians." Mr. Webster's great speech at 
 Plymouth, in 1820, he calls an Epic Poem, in which 
 the truth of severe history has been overlooked in 
 admhation of the creations of his genius. Mr. 
 Everett follows the authority of Mr. Webster; and 
 " modern historians have since then taken these flights 
 of poetic fancy for historic verities, and sought to 
 elevate them into the dignity of history. They might 
 as well insist, that a modern Fourth-of-July oration 
 was the cause of the Ilcvolutionary War, though 
 
21 
 
 littered some years after that event had taken place. 
 Regarded as a poUtical event, the Plymoiitli settle- 
 ment was not of the slightest consequence or impor- 
 tance. It neither aided nor retarded the settlement 
 of the country." 
 
 These are all the specimens for which time or 
 space can now be afforded, though they inadequately 
 represent the tone and spirit of the lecture. We 
 may be permitted to present, by way of rejoinder, a 
 few "historic verities," which could easily be sus- 
 tained by proof. 
 
 First, It is fortunate for Maine, and for the coun- 
 try, that New England was not peopled by the convict 
 and mercenary gangs of Gorges. It would have been 
 w^ell, also, perhaps, if the Pilgrims had remained a 
 year or two longer in Holland. For the colony at 
 Jamestown, composed of like unsound materials, was 
 apparently near its end, perishing from its inherent 
 vices, and might have been re-established by better 
 men, under better auspices. Gorges himself discloses 
 the fact of his own utter discouragement. But the 
 proposed embarkation of the Pilgrims changed all 
 that, and infused new life into the dying hopes of 
 speculators in the anticipated resources of the New 
 World. Gorges eagerly seized the opportunity of 
 planting permanent occupants on the soil ; which, he 
 tells us, all his efforts had failed to accomplish. He 
 favored the plans of the emigrants to Plymouth, and 
 
 4 
 
22 
 
 of the company of Massachusetts Bay, until he found 
 that they would not be made to subserve his private 
 and selfish purposes, when he turned against them, 
 and sought to deprive them of their rights and privi- 
 leges. 
 
 Second, The arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth 
 was the transfer to this country of an actual com- 
 munity, possessing all the important relations of do- 
 mestic life. It was like transplanting a tree with 
 roots already formed, and tendrils already grown, to 
 take hold of the new soil, and maintain vitality, even 
 if all above them perished. Hence neither suffering 
 nor death could break up the colony, because here 
 was its home, and it had no other. 
 
 The Massachusetts Company was a body politic. 
 Having brought its charter, it became a State or Com- 
 monwealth, dependent on no corporation or council 
 on the other side .of the ocean, but sufficient of itself 
 for all the purposes of human society. It proceeded 
 immediately to build up towns and municipalities 
 after the hereditary patterns of the mother-country ; 
 to organize government and the administration of law 
 and justice in all the customary branches ; to estab- 
 lish commerce ; to found seats of learning, and create 
 an army of drilled and disciplined soldiers. It was 
 an integral portion of England that was thus removed 
 to America, comprising some of its most learned 
 scholars and ablest divines ; some of its wisest and 
 shrewdest politicians ; some of its most sagacious 
 
23 
 
 merchants ; and some well skilled in the arts of war. 
 So rapid and substantial was the progress in the first 
 seven years of occupation, that the jealousy of Eng- 
 land was excited, and emigration was restrained. For, 
 says Gorges, " it was doubted that they would in a 
 short time wholly shake off the royal jurisdiction of 
 the sovereign magistrate." It was at this period that 
 the General Court of Massachusetts passed an order, 
 that none should be received to inhabit within its 
 jurisdiction, without liberty from one of the standing 
 council, or two other assistants. " They were of 
 opinion," says Holmes, " that their Commonwealth 
 was established by free consent ; that the place of 
 their habitation was their own ; that no man had a 
 right to enter their society without their permission ; 
 that they had the full and absolute power of govern- 
 ing all people by men chosen from among themselves, 
 and according to such laws as they should see fit to 
 make, not repugnant to the laws of England." They 
 were able, a very few years later, to furnish statesmen, 
 warriors, and preachers, who contributed materially 
 to the conversion of the English Government into a 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 Thus were first fulfilled, beyond the chances of 
 controversy, the conditions of the doctrine laid down 
 in the " Memorial Volume," that prescription with- 
 out occupation was of no avail, and that possession 
 of the country was essential to the maintenance of 
 title. The success of Massachusetts made possible 
 
24 
 
 the possession and settlement of other portions of the 
 northern continent. Her vigor encouraged, and her 
 commercial intercourse animated, every other colony. 
 Without her protection, even in later times, every 
 plantation in Maine would probably have been de- 
 stroyed by the Indians, certainly would have been 
 overwhelmed by the French ; and even the older set- 
 tlements of Virginia apparently owed their continued 
 existence to the prosperity of New England. Nor 
 would the stronger company of Massachusetts Bay 
 have come into existence except for the pioneer 
 enterprise of the Pilgrims. 
 
 Third, No sooner had Plymouth and Massachu- 
 setts established the practicability of living and thriv- 
 mg in New England, than, in addition to the lawless 
 adventurers who already frequented the coasts, the 
 country began to swarm with outcasts of every de- 
 scription. They were not unlike the miscellaneous 
 characters which, in our own time, fii'st poured into 
 California ; persons who, if not actually vicious, were 
 of roving and restless natures, and impatient of the 
 restramts of society. The religious agitations of the 
 period had also set afloat other classes equally dan- 
 gerous to the peace of a community : visionaries and 
 fanatics of every genus, — Familists, Fifth-monarchy 
 men, iVntinomians, Anabaptists, Quakers ; some of 
 them under respectable names, which then covered 
 entirely difl"erent pretensions and practices. There 
 were men who disdained obedience to laws, or con- 
 
25 
 
 formity to the ordinary rules of social life ; and women 
 who thought it their duty to prophesy in public, to 
 vilify the magistrates, and to parade the streets in a 
 state of nudity. A nation strengthened by the growth 
 of centuries might possibly withstand the influence of 
 such disorganizing elements ; but, without restraints 
 almost as rigorous as martial law, they would seem 
 to be necessarily fatal to the safety of an infant 
 colony. 
 
 The Puritans were not fanatics, of the visionary 
 kind at least, but with earnest piety mingled worldly 
 wisdom. They asserted the broad distinction between 
 imposing restrictions upon the liberties of established 
 communities inheriting the soil from a common an- 
 cestry, and defining the conditions of admission to 
 their own religious and political fellowship, in a new 
 land, bought with their money, planted by their toil, 
 and watered with their tears. A candid and philo- 
 sophical discussion of the whole subject, between 
 Winthrop and Vane, has fortunately been preserved 
 to us, and shows the solemn deliberation with which 
 their policy was adopted.* 
 
 Fourth^ Those practices and municipal regulations 
 which are so much decried as novel persecutions, or 
 as evidences of bigotry and narrow-mindedness pecu- 
 liar to New England, did not originate here. They 
 were not even of Puritan origin. They were trans- 
 
 * Hutchinson's " Collection of Original Papers." 
 
26 
 
 ferred from the local statute-books of their English 
 homes, where they had been familiar to the people for 
 generations. In many of the ancient towns of Eng- 
 land, precisely similar enactments were in force. 
 Persons were carted about town, and then "expulsed," 
 simply for eaves-dropping. If a man spoke evil of the 
 magistrates, he was to be grievously punished in his 
 body ; and, if he struck the Mayor, was to lose the 
 offending hand. At Leicester, one person from every 
 house was required to be at every sermon. At Bos- 
 ton, in 1616, all the street-doors were to be kept 
 closed during divine service ; and in 1662 the council 
 ordered, that every person in the borough above 
 twenty-one years of age should " diligently and faith- 
 fully attend divine service upon every Sunday, pv 
 other days of thanksgiving and humiliation appointed 
 by law." The Wardens of Childwal, in 1635, pre- 
 sented individuals who absented themselves from the 
 parish church, or who slept during service. At 
 Liverpool, people were punished for lodging guests 
 who did not go to church. At the same place, a 
 minister was threatened with punishment for not cut- 
 ting his hah to a seemly length ; and it was declared 
 illeo-al for a bachelor to be out in the street after nine 
 o'clock, P.M. At Hartlepool, any member of the cor- 
 poration was fined for sitting out of his regular place 
 at church. At Lancaster, strangers were prohibited 
 from coming into town until they had permission from 
 the ]Mayor, his brethren, and fifteen commons. At 
 
27 
 
 Banbury, the people could not receive an inmate or 
 under-tenant without license from the Mayor. If, 
 without license, they kept a visitor thirteen days, 
 they were fined forty shillings, and lost the freedom of 
 the town. At Leicester, in 1564, no townsmen could 
 sit and tipple at an alehouse, but must take the beer 
 to their own houses. 
 
 The Puritans of New England, to meet the exi- 
 gencies of their colony, simply continued a class of 
 municipal rules to which they were habituated in the 
 mother -country. Perhaps they should have been 
 wiser than their fathers in this respect, as they were 
 in some others. Perhaps their policy was required 
 by the circumstances in which they were placed. It 
 would be presumptuous in us to pronounce, that a 
 different course would have produced more favorable 
 results. They were men of remarkable common 
 sense ,^nd practical ability: as Bishop Warburton 
 said, they had a genius for government They also 
 believed in the necessity of law. 
 
 One of the toasts at the Maine celebration was 
 framed to compliment the " tolerant spirit " of the 
 Dutch of Manhattan, as contrasted with the intolerant 
 spirit of New England ; and the New-York gentle- 
 man who responded in advance by letter indulged 
 in a similar tone of remark. Among statements, 
 not so well founded as they should be, coming from 
 so respectable a source, two contiguous passages are 
 selected for illustration : — 
 
28 
 
 " If the pioneer settlement at New Plymouth was distinguished 
 from the later colony of Massachusetts Bay by more tolerant ideas 
 in civil as well as religious affairs, it may be not unjustly inferred, 
 that some, at least, of that larger liberality was derived from the 
 lessons of Holland." 
 
 " Meanwhile, the Dutch colonists at Manhattan, and its neigh- 
 borhood, had been calmly practising those liberal principles which 
 they learned in their fatherland. There the Jesuit Father Jogues 
 met Protestant exiles from the persecutions of Massachusetts, 
 Lutherans from Germany, Roman Catholics and Anabaptists, all 
 actually enjoying, in an equal degree Avith the original Calvinistic 
 settlers, the blessings of religious liberty." 
 
 The first book we happen to take up for Hght on 
 this subject is Mr. Onderdonk's " Queen's County in 
 Olden Times ; " and it does not appear from his 
 minutes, that Baptists, or Quakers, or other schisma- 
 tics, were treated more leniently by the Dutch, under 
 similar circumstances, than they were by the Puritans 
 of Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
 
 " lOoG. AVm. Wickendam, a cobler from Rhode Island, came 
 to Flushing and began to preach, and went with the people into 
 the river, and dipped them. For this he was fined £100, and 
 ordered to be banished. As he was poor and had a family, the 
 fine was remitted. Hallet, the sheriff, had dared to collect con- 
 venticles in his house, and had permitted Wickendam to preach 
 and administer the sacraments, though not called thereto by any 
 ecclesiastical authority. For this he was removed from office, 
 and fined £50." 
 
 The next year, Wickendam began to preach and 
 baptize again. 
 
 " This becoming known to the Governor, the Fiscaal proceeded 
 to Flushing, and brought him along. He was banished the Prov- 
 ince." 
 
29 
 
 " IGGl, July 4. Thos. Terry and Saml. Bearing petition for 
 leave to settle seven families at Hempstead, [and] ten at Ma.tine- 
 cook. Granted ; but they are to • bring iu no Quakers, or such 
 like opinionists" l\ 
 
 " 1G70. The people of Jamaica petition the Governor against 
 a certain witch, Katherine Ilarison's settling there. Petition 
 granted." She had been sent away from Connecticut. 
 
 " 1674, April 18. Samuel Furman, of Oysterbay, went about 
 the streets of New York making a great noise and uproar, and 
 presumed to come into the Church and abuse the Avord of God, 
 and blaspheme his holy name ; for which he is sentenced to be 
 severely whipped with rods, banished the Province, and pay the 
 costs." 
 
 Perhaps some who have since borne the respecta- 
 ble name of Furman on Long Island could have told 
 us whether the blasphemy in this case differed from 
 that generally charged upon religious enthusiasts of 
 the ranting order, then so common and troublesome. 
 
 " 1674, Nov. 24. Daniel Patrick and Francis Coley, of Flush- 
 ing, for contemptuously working on Thanksgiving Day, and giving 
 reproachful language to the magistrates that questioned them for 
 it, are sent to the New York Sessions by Justice Cornell and Mr. 
 Hinchman." 
 
 " 1675. Thomas Case, while preaching at Matinecook, it< ar- 
 rested by the constable of Oysterbay." 
 
 " 1675, Oct. Mary Case is fined £5 for interrupting Mr. 
 Leverich while preaching, and saying to him, 'Come down, thou 
 whited wall, thou that feedest thyself, and starvest the people ! ' 
 The constable led her out of the meeting. Samuel Scudder is 
 fined £5, or go to jail, for sending a long and scandalous letter to 
 Mr. Leverich. Francis Goely submits, and is dismissed. Eliza- 
 beth Appleby disturbed the Court of Sessions, and is committed. 
 Thomas Case is fined £20 for preaching and making a disturbance 
 before John Brown's door at Flushinjr." 
 
30 
 
 Thomas Case was a Quaker, who had some pecu- 
 liar notions on the subject of marriage. Under date 
 of Jan. 12, U)76, it is said, " Too many persons visit 
 Thomas Case in prison. None hereafter to be admit- 
 ted." He was a pestilent fellow, no doubt, yet seems 
 to have been popular. 
 
 But where are we ? Among the " tolerant " Knick- 
 erbockers, or the bigoted Puritans ? Do practices 
 change their nature and their name according to the 
 localities in which they occur ? It has been the mis- 
 fortune of the Maine celebration to involve, not only 
 its managers, but some of its invited guests, in a 
 singular confusion of ideas respecting " historic veri- 
 ties." 
 
 The sneers at Puritanism, so common in the South- 
 ern States, may have arisen partly from jealousy, and 
 partly from a natural incapacity to conceive of 
 habits of life and conduct, restrained or impelled by 
 abstract principles of right and duty. But the imita- 
 tive echo, sometimes heard from the great commer- 
 cial metropolis, when repeated in Maine, has the 
 derogatory elements of ingratitude and questionable 
 taste. For the people of that State are not descended 
 from Popham's c«y«/iers, nor from the remains of a 
 subjected colony, but are indebted to Massachusetts 
 for the being of their commonwealth, and the guar- 
 dianship of its defenceless years. 
 
 In passing judgment upon the authors of great 
 movements in the world's history, it is not customary 
 
31 
 
 to dwell on their minor traits, even if these are faults, 
 but on those characteristics which overcame obstacles 
 and secured success ; and never, before or since, has 
 the conquest of a country been effected with so little 
 of public wrong or private injustice as that of the 
 land which we inhabit, whether we regard the people 
 who were dispossessed, or the invading masses who 
 were to be guided and controlled. 
 
 If in this achievement there has clearly been a 
 dominant influence, it is that of the Puritans of New 
 England and their descendants. Their livelier facul- 
 ties have kept the phlegmatic Hollanders from dozing 
 over their pipes ; the precocious West owes its sub- 
 stantial vitality to their earnestness of purpose and 
 practical wisdom ; and the boastful South has yielded 
 to the force of their principles and their energies. 
 
 The true Puritan may be described as ." a just man, 
 tenacious of his opinions, whose steadfast mind nei- 
 ther the depraved impulses of disorderly citizens, nor 
 the frown of a threatening tyrant, nor Southern blus- 
 ter, could shake from its purposes." 
 
 You recognize, Mr. President, in this portrait, a 
 translation, nearly literal, of the words of Horace, — 
 
 " Justuin et teiicacem propositi viruni 
 Non civium arJor i^rava jubentium, 
 Non vultus instantis tyranni, 
 Mente quatit solida : ueque Auster." 
 
 The lines are almost prophetic ; and the words 
 " neque Auster," which appear to have little meaning 
 
32 
 
 in their original use, have, in this application, a 
 striking significance. 
 
 In the presence of such realities as Plymouth and 
 Massachusetts, how worse than extravagant it seems 
 to dignify the ineffectual operations of an adventurer 
 like Gorges, or the ephemeral and futile visit of a 
 band of outlawed men like the company of Popham, 
 wdth such appellations as " The source of title to 
 the continent ; " " The foundation of the colossal 
 empire of the New World ; " " The great event of 
 American history, giving a new direction to the his- 
 tory of the world " ! * 
 
 * These comments on the proceedings at the Popham Celebration were 
 already in type before the writer liad seen the " Addiess of Mr. E. C. 
 Benedict to the New- York Historical Society, Nov. 17, 1863." In that 
 excellent paper, full justice is accorded to the Puritans of New England, and 
 no less to the remarkable assumptions contained in the two productions of the 
 Maine orator. 
 
f. 
 
/ 
 
 f 4