Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Of Plymouth Plantation , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
It did not, in fact, immediately land at Plymouth Rock. These are some of the facts students will learn throughout the lesson. There are four statements about this time in history. Students will decide whether or not they are fact or myth after their research. If they do discover a statement is not true, they have to correct the errors.
The practice will requires some critical thinking. Then they will explain what they believe William Bradford was trying to say. After that, there are seven sources of different types.
Students will have to determine whether the source is a primary source or not. Similar to the activity, students will have to do some research for their homework assignment. There are five questions about the Mayflower Compact. Religion hath been disgraced, the godly grieved, afflicted, persecuted, and many exiled; sundry have lost their lives in prisons and other ways. On the other hand, sin hath been countenanced; ignorance, profaneness and atheism increased, and the papists encouraged to hope again for a day.
This made that holy man Mr. Perkins cry out in 11 his exhortation to repentance, upon Zephaniah ii:. Religion saith he hath been amongst us this thirty-five years; but the more it is published, the more it is contemned and reproached of many, etc. Thus not profaneness nor wickedness but religion itself is a byword, a mockingstock, and a matter of reproach; so that in England at this day the man or woman that begins to profess religion and to serve God, must resolve with himself to sustain mocks and injuries even as though he lived amongst the enemies of religion.
And this, common experience hath confirmed and made too apparent. But that I may come more near my intendment. When as by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labours, as in other places of the land, so in the North parts, many became enlightened by the Word of God and had their ignorance and sins discovered unto them, and began by His grace to reform their lives and make conscience of their was, the work of God was no sooner manifest in them but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude; and the ministers urged with the yoke of subscription, or else must be silenced.
And the poor people were so vexed with apparitors and pursuivants 12 and the commissary courts, as truly their affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they bore sundry years with much patience, till they were occasioned by the continuance and increase of these troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days, to see further into things by the light of the Word of God.
How not only these base and beggarly ceremonies were unlawful, but also that the lordly and tyrannous power of the prelates ought not to be submitted unto; which thus, contrary to the freedom of the gospel, would load and burden men's consciences and by their compulsive power make a profane mixture of persons and things in the worship of God. And that their offices and callings, courts and canons, etc. Of which a famous author thus writeth in his Dutch commentaries, 13 at the coming of King James into England:.
The new king saith he found there established the reformed religion according to the reformed religion of King Edward VI, retaining or keeping still the spiritual state of the bishops, etc. So many, therefore, of these professors as saw the evil of these things in these parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for His truth, they shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord's free people joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.
These people became two distinct bodies or churches, and in regard of distance of place did congregate severally; for they were of sundry towns and villages, some in Nottinghamshire, some of Lincolnshire, and some of Yorkshire where they border nearest together.
In one of these churches besides others of note was Mr. John Smith, 15 a man of able gifts and a good preacher, who afterwards was chosen their pastor. But these afterwards falling into some errours in the Low Countries, there for the most part buried themselves and their names. But in this other church which must be the subject of our discourse beside" other worthy men, was Mr.
Richard Clyfton, a grave and reverend preacher, who by his pains and diligence had done much good, and under God had been a means of the conversion of many. And also that famous and worthy man Mr. John Robinson, who afterwards was their pastor for many years, till the Lord took him away by death. Also Mr. William Brewster a reverend man, who afterwards was chosen an elder of the church and lived with them till old age. But after these things they could not bug continue in any peaceable condition, but were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as fleabitings in comparison of these which now came upon them.
For some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were fain to flee and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood. Yet these and many other sharper things which afterward befell them, were no other than they looked for, and therefore were the better prepared to bear them by the assistance of God's grace and Spirit. Yet seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men; as also how sundry from London and other parts of the land had been exiled and persecuted for the same cause, and were gone thither, and lived at Amsterdam and in other places of the land.
So after they had continued together about a year, and kept their meetings every Sabbath in one place or other, exercising the worship of God amongst themselves, notwithstanding all the diligence and malice of their adversaries, they seeing they could no longer continue in that condition, they resolved to get over into Holland as they could. Which was in the year and ; of which more at large in the next chapter.
Bradford uses the word Saint in the Biblical sense, as one of God's chosen people, or a church member. Professor , as used by Bradford and by Puritans generally, had no educational connotation; it merely meant one who professed Christianity.
Socrates Scholasticus, Greek historian of the 5th century A. Bradford's quotation is from lib. The row was between the Marian exiles who wished to abolish "service books" altogether which Bradford and the entire left wing of English Protestantism believed should have been done , and those who adopted the typically English compromise of a Book of Common Prayer.
The Marian exiles, or some of them, wished to reorganize the church on congregational principles which they believed alone to be sanctioned by the New Testament. Bradford means the Congregational discipline. His account of church history during Elizabeth's reign is of course a partisan one, unfair to the acts and the motives of everyone not in the left wing of Protestantism. On the blank page [4 V.
Bradford in added what he called A late observation. William "Painful" Perkins, a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, whose works were much esteemed by all branches of Puritans. Bradford's reference, to which he adds this remark: "The reformed churches shapen much near[er] the primitive pattern than England, for they cashiered the Bishops with all their courts, canons, and ceremonies, at the first; and left them amongst the popish tr[ash] to which they per[tained]. A paraphrase of the words of thc covenant that people made when they formed a separatist later called Congregational church.
An alumnus of Christ's College, Cambridge, who seceded from the Church of England in and preached to the separatist church at Gainsborough. This congregation emigrated in to Amsterdam, where Smith embraced a number of strange opinions and his church broke up.
Richard Clyfton and John Robinson also were Cambridge alumni in holy orders who separated. Clyfton and William Brewster organized thc separatist congregation at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, which Bradford pined as a young man.
The sentence on Brewster is written in a different ink from the rest of the chapter, having been inserted after thc Elder's death in Being thus constrained to leave their native soil and country, their lands and livings, and all their friends and familiar acquaintance, it was much; and thought marvellous by many. But to go into a country they knew not but by hearsay, where they must learn a new language and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate; a case intolerable and a misery worse than death.
Especially seeing they were not acquainted with trades nor traffic by which that country cloth subsist but had only been used to a plain country life and the innocent trade of husbandry. But these things did not dismay them, though they did sometimes trouble them; for their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy His ordinances; but they rested on His providence, and knew Whom they had believed. Roe, Woodward and Gallivan, of the Senate, and Messrs.
Roe, from the committee, afterwards reported that they had attended to the duty assigned them, and that His Excellency the Governor had been pleased to say that he received the message and should be pleased to wait upon the Convention forthwith for the purpose named. James's, the Honorable George F. Hoar, Senator from Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States, and other invited guests, entered the chamber.
The decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, authorizing the return of the manuscript and its delivery to the Governor, was read. The President then presented the Honorable George F. Hoar, who gave an account of the manuscript and of the many efforts that had been made to secure its return.
The Honorable Thomas F. Bayard was then introduced by the President, and he formally presented the manuscript to His Excellency the Governor, who accepted it in behalf of the Commonwealth.
Whereas , In the presence of the Senate and of the House of Representatives in joint convention assembled, and in accordance with a decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, the manuscript of Bradford's "History of the Plimouth Plantation" has this day been delivered to His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth by the Honorable Thomas F.
James's; and. Whereas , His Excellency the Governor has accepted the said manuscript in behalf of the Commonwealth; therefore, be it. Ordered , That the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts place on record their high appreciation of the generous and gracious courtesy that prompted this act of international good-will, and express their grateful thanks to all concerned therein, and especially to the Lord Bishop of London, for the return to the Commonwealth of this precious relic; and be it further.
Ordered , That His Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit an engrossed and duly authenticated copy of this order with its preamble to the Lord Bishop of London. His Excellency, accompanied by the other dignitaries, then withdrew, the Convention was dissolved, and the Senate returned to its chamber. Subsequently a resolve was passed approved June [xviii] 10, providing for the publication of the history from the original manuscript, together with a report of the proceedings of the joint convention, such report to be prepared by a committee consisting of one member of the Senate and two members of the House of Representatives, and to include, so far as practicable, portraits of His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott, William Bradford, the Honorable George F.
Hoar, the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Bishop of London; facsimiles of pages from the manuscript history, and a picture of the book itself; copies of the decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, the receipt of the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard for the manuscript, and the receipt sent by His Excellency the Governor to the Consistorial and Episcopal Court; an account of the legislative action taken with reference to the presentation and reception of the manuscript; the addresses of the Honorable George F.
Bayard and His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott; and such other papers and illustrations as the committee might deem advisable; the whole to be printed under the direction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the book distributed by him according to directions contained in the resolve. Senator Alfred S. Roe of Worcester and Representatives Francis C.
Lowell of Boston and Walter L. Whereas , The said Honorable Court, by its decree dated the twelfth day of April, , and made on the petition of the Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, lately Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of Saint James in London, did order that a certain original manuscript book then in the custody of the Lord Bishop of London, known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower," and more specifically described in said decree, should be delivered over to the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard by the Lord Bishop of London, on certain conditions specified in said decree, to be delivered by the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard in person to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thereafter to be kept in the custody of the aforesaid Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and his successors, subject to a compliance with certain conditions, as set forth in said decree;.
And Whereas , The said Honorable Court by its decree aforesaid did further order that, with all convenient speed after the delivery of the said manuscript book to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, [xxxvi] the Governor should transmit to the Registrar of the said Honorable Court a certificate of the delivery of the same to him by the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, and his acceptance of the custody of the same, subject to the terms and conditions named in the decree aforesaid;.
Now, Therefore , In compliance with the decree aforesaid I do hereby certify that on the twenty-sixth day of May, , the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard delivered in person to me, at my official office in the State House in the city of Boston, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States of America, a certain manuscript book which the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard then and there declared to be the original manuscript book known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower," which is more specifically described in the decree aforesaid; and I do further certify that I hereby accept the custody of the same, subject to the terms and conditions named in the decree aforesaid.
In witness whereof , I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Commonwealth to be affixed, at the Capitol in Boston, this twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven. The first American Ambassador to Great Britain, at the end of his official service, comes to Massachusetts on an interesting errand. He comes to deliver to the lineal successor of Governor Bradford, in the presence of the representatives and rulers of the body politic formed by the compact on board the "Mayflower," Nov.
Bayard has sought to represent to the mother country, not so much the diplomacy as the good-will of the American people. If in this anybody be tempted to judge him severely, let us remember what his great predecessor, John Adams, the first minister at the same court, representing more than any other man, embodying more than any other man, the spirit of Massachusetts, said to George III.
And let us remember, too, the answer of the old monarch, who, with all his faults, must have had something of a noble and royal nature stirring in his bosom, when he replied: "Let the circumstances of language, religion and blood have their natural and full effect. It has long been well known that Governor Bradford wrote and left behind him a history of the settlement of Plymouth.
It was quoted by early chroniclers. There are extracts from it in the records at Plymouth. Thomas Prince used it when he compiled his annals. Hubbard depended on it when he wrote his "History of New England. From that time it disappeared from the knowledge of everybody on this side of the water. All our historians speak of it as lost, and can only guess what had been its fate. Some persons suspected that it was destroyed when Governor Hutchinson's house was sacked in , others that it was [xli] carried off by some officer or soldier when Boston was evacuated by the British army in In Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, afterward Bishop of Winchester, one of the brightest of men, published one of the dullest and stupidest of books.
The book attracted no attention here until, about twelve years later, in , John Wingate Thornton, whom many of us remember as an accomplished antiquary and a delightful gentleman, happened to pick up a copy of it while he was lounging in Burnham's book store. He read the bishop's quotations, and carried the book to his office, where he left it for his friend, Mr. Barry, who was then writing his "History of Massachusetts," with passages marked, and with a note which is not preserved, but which, according to his memory, suggested that the passages must have come from Bradford's long-lost history.
That is the claim for Mr. On the other hand, it is claimed by Mr. Barry that there was nothing of that kind expressed in Mr. Thornton's note, but in reading the book when he got it an hour or so later, the thought struck him for the first time that the clew had been found to the precious book which had been lost so long. He at once repaired to Charles [xlii] Deane, then and ever since, down to his death, as President Eliot felicitously styled him, "the master of historical investigators in this country.
Deane saw the importance of the discovery. He communicated at once with Joseph Hunter, an eminent English scholar. Hunter was high authority on all matters connected with the settlement of New England. He visited the palace at Fulham, and established beyond question the identity of the manuscript with Governor Bradford's history, an original letter of Governor Bradford having been sent over for comparison of handwriting. How the manuscript got to Fulham nobody knows.
Whether it was carried over by Governor Hutchinson in ; whether it was taken as spoil from the tower of the Old South Church in ; whether, with other manuscripts, it was sent to Fulham at the time of the attempts of the Episcopal churches in America, just before the revolution, to establish an episcopate here,—nobody knows.
It would seem that Hutchinson would have sent it to the colonial office; that an officer would naturally have sent it to the war office; and a private would have sent it to the war office, unless he had carried it off as mere private booty and plunder,—in which case it would have been unlikely that it would have reached a public place of custody. But we find it in the possession of the church and of the church official having, [xliii] until independence was declared, special jurisdiction over Episcopal interests in Massachusetts and Plymouth.
This may seem to point to a transfer for some ecclesiastical purpose. The bishop's chancellor conjectures that it was sent to Fulham because of the record annexed to it of the early births, marriages and deaths, such records being in England always in ecclesiastical custody.
But this is merely conjecture. I know of no incident like this in history, unless it be the discovery in a chest in the castle of Edinburgh, where they had been lost for one hundred and eleven years, of the ancient regalia of Scotland,—the crown of Bruce, the sceptre and sword of state.
The lovers of Walter Scott, who was one of the commissioners who made the search, remember his intense emotion, as described by his daughter, when the lid was removed. Her feelings were worked up to such a pitch that she nearly fainted, and drew back from the circle.
As she was retiring she was startled by his voice exclaiming, in a tone of the deepest emotion, "something between anger and despair," as she expressed it: "By God, no! Scott whispered, "Pray forgive me," and turning round at the moment observed his daughter deadly pale and leaning by the door. He immediately drew her out of the room, and when she had somewhat recovered in the fresh air, walked with her across Mound to Castle Street.
I thought he liked me better, too, than he had ever done before. There have been several attempts to procure the return of the manuscript to this country. Winthrop, in , through the venerable John Sinclair, archdeacon, urged the Bishop of London to give it up, and proposed that the Prince of Wales, then just coming to this country, should take it across the Atlantic and present it to the people of Massachusetts.
The Attorney-General, Sir Fitzroy Kelley, approved the plan, and said it would be an exceptional act of grace, a most interesting action, and that he heartily wished the success of the application. But the bishop refused. Again, in , John Lothrop [xlv] Motley, then minister to England, who had a great and deserved influence there, repeated the proposition, at the suggestion of that most accomplished scholar, Justin Winsor. But his appeal had the same fate. The bishop gave no encouragement, and said, as had been said nine years before, that the property could not be alienated without an act of Parliament.
Winsor planned to repeat the attempt on his visit to England in When he was at Fulham the bishop was absent, and he was obliged to come home without seeing him in person. In , at the time of the death of President Garfield, Benjamin Scott, chamberlain of London, proposed again in the newspapers that the restitution should be made.
But nothing came of it. In preparing for that duty, I read again, with renewed enthusiasm and delight, the noble and touching story, as told by Governor Bradford. I felt that this precious history of the Pilgrims ought to be in no other custody than that of their children.
But the case seemed hopeless. I found myself compelled by a serious physical infirmity to take a vacation, and to get a rest from public cares and duties, which was impossible while I stayed at home. When I went abroad I determined to visit the locality, on the [xlvi] borders of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, from which Bradford and Brewster and Robinson, the three leaders of the Pilgrims, came, and where their first church was formed, and the places in Amsterdam and Leyden where the emigrants spent thirteen years.
But I longed especially to see the manuscript of Bradford at Fulham, which then seemed to me, as it now seems to me, the most precious manuscript on earth, unless we could recover one of the four gospels as it came in the beginning from the pen of the Evangelist. The desire to get it back grew and grew during the voyage across the Atlantic. I did not know how such a proposition would be received in England.
A few days after I landed I made a call upon John Morley. I asked him whether he thought the thing could be done. He inquired carefully into the story, took down from his shelf the excellent though brief life of Bradford in Leslie Stephen's "Biographical Dictionary," and told me he thought the book ought to come back to us, and that he should be glad to do anything in his power to help.
It was my fortune, a week or two after, to sit next to Mr. Bayard at a dinner given to Mr. Collins by the American consuls in Great Britain.
I took occasion to tell him the story, and he gave me the assurance, which he has since so abundantly and successfully fulfilled, of his powerful aid.
I was [xlvii] compelled, by the health of one of the party with whom I was travelling, to go to the continent almost immediately, and was disappointed in the hope of an early return to England. So the matter was delayed until about a week before I sailed for home, when I went to Fulham, in the hope at least of seeing the manuscript. I had supposed that it was a quasi-public library, open to general visitors.
But I found the bishop was absent. I asked for the librarian, but there was no such officer, and I was told very politely that the library was not open to the public, and was treated in all respects as that of a private gentleman. So I gave up any hope of doing anything in person. But I happened, the Friday before I sailed for home, to dine with an English friend who had been exceedingly kind to me. As he took leave of me, about eleven o'clock in the evening, he asked me if there was anything more he could do for me.
I said, "No, unless you happen to know the Lord Bishop of London. I should like to get a sight at the manuscript of Bradford's history before I go home. Grenfell, at whose house you spent a few days in the early summer, married the bishop's niece, and will gladly give you an introduction to his uncle. He is in Scotland. But I will write to him before I go to bed. Sunday morning brought me a cordial letter from [xlviii] Mr. Grenfell, introducing me to the bishop.
I wrote a note to his lordship, saying I should be glad to have an opportunity to see Bradford's history; that I was to sail for the United States the next Wednesday, but would be pleased to call at Fulham Tuesday, if that were agreeable to him. I got a note in reply, in which he said if I would call on Tuesday he would be happy to show me "The Log of the Mayflower," which is the title the English, without the slightest reason in the world, give the manuscript.
I kept the appointment, and found the bishop with the book in his hand. He received me with great courtesy, showed me the palace, and said that that spot had been occupied by a bishop's palace for more than a thousand years. After looking at the volume and reading the records on the flyleaf, I said: "My lord, I am going to say something which you may think rather audacious. I think this book ought to go back to Massachusetts. Nobody knows how it got over here. Some people think it was carried off by Governor Hutchinson, the Tory governor; other people think it was carried off by British soldiers when Boston was evacuated; but in either case the property would not have changed.
Or, if you treat it as a booty, in which last case, I suppose, by the law of nations ordinary property does change, no civilized nation in modern times [xlix] applies that principle to the property of libraries and institutions of learning.
But the Americans who have been here—many of them have been commercial people—did not seem to care much about it except as a curiosity. I suppose I ought not to give it up on my own authority. It belongs to me in my official capacity, and not as private or personal property. I think I ought to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury.
And, indeed," he added, "I think I ought to speak to the Queen about it. We should not do such a thing behind Her Majesty's back. I said: "Very well. When I go home I will have a proper application made from some of our literary societies, and ask you to give it consideration.
I saw Mr. Bayard again, and told him the story. He was at the train when I left London for the steamer at Southampton. He entered with great interest [l] into the matter, and told me again he would gladly do anything in his power to forward it. When I got home I communicated with Secretary Olney about it, who took a kindly interest in the matter, and wrote to Mr.
Bayard that the administration desired he should do everything in his power to promote the application. These bodies appointed committees to unite in the application. Governor Wolcott was also consulted, who gave his hearty approbation to the movement, and a letter was dispatched through Mr. Meantime Bishop Temple, with whom I had my conversation, had himself become Archbishop of Canterbury, and in that capacity Primate of all England.
His successor, Rev. Creighton, had been the delegate of John Harvard's College to the great celebration at Harvard University on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, in He had received the degree of doctor of laws from the university, had been a guest of President Eliot, and had received President Eliot as his guest in England.
He is an accomplished historical scholar, and very friendly in sentiment to the people of the United [li] States. So, by great fortune, the two eminent ecclesiastical personages who were to have a powerful influence in the matter were likely to be exceedingly well disposed.
Benjamin A. Gould, the famous mathematician, was appointed one of the committee of the American Antiquarian Society. He died suddenly, just after a letter to the Bishop of London was prepared and about to be sent to him for signing.
He took a very zealous interest in the matter. The letter formally asked for the return of the manuscript, and was signed by the following-named gentlemen: George F.
Evarts, William T. Beaman, Joseph H. Choate, J. I was fortunate in having formed the friendship of Mr. Grenfell, which secured to me so cordial a reception from the Bishop of London. It was fortunate that the Bishop of London was Dr. Temple, an eminent scholar, kindly disposed toward the people of the United States, and a man [lii] thoroughly capable of understanding and respecting the deep and holy sentiment which a compliance with our desire would gratify.
It was fortunate, too, that Bishop Temple, who thought he must have the approbation of the archbishop before his action, when the time came had himself become Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of all England. It was fortunate that Dr. Creighton had succeeded to the see of London.
He is, himself, as I have just said, an eminent historical scholar. He has many friends in America. He was the delegate of Emmanuel, John Harvard's College, at the great Harvard centennial celebration in He received the degree of doctor of laws at Harvard and is a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He had, as I have said, entertained President Eliot as his guest in England. It was fortunate, too, that the application came in a time of cordial good-will between the two countries, when the desire of John Adams and the longing of George III.
This token of the good-will of England reached Boston on the eve of the birthday of the illustrious sovereign, who is not more venerated and beloved by her own subjects than by the kindred people across the sea. It comes to us at the time of the rejoicing of the [liii] English people at the sixtieth anniversary of a reign more crowded with benefit to humanity than any other known in the annals of the race.
Upon the power of England, the sceptre, the trident, the lion, the army and the fleet, the monster ships of war, the all-shattering guns, the American people are strong enough now to look with an entire indifference. We encounter her commerce and her manufacture in the spirit of a generous emulation. The inheritance from which England has gained these things is ours also.
We, too, are of the Saxon strain. Our temple covers a continent, and its porches are upon both the seas. Our fathers knew the secret to lay, in Christian liberty and law, the foundations of empire. Our young men are not ashamed, if need be, to speak with the enemy in the gate. But to the illustrious lady, type of gentlest womanhood, model of mother and wife and friend, who came at eighteen to the throne of George IV.
But I am afraid this application might have had the fate of its predecessors but for our special good fortune in the fact that Mr.
Bayard was our ambassador at the Court of St. He had been, as I said in the beginning, the ambassador not so much of the diplomacy as of the good-will of the American people. Before his powerful influence every obstacle gave way. It was almost impossible for Englishmen to refuse a request like this, made by him, and in which his own sympathies were so profoundly enlisted. You are entitled, sir, to the gratitude of Massachusetts, to the gratitude of every lover of Massachusetts and of every lover of the country.
You have succeeded where so many others have failed, and where so many others would have been likely to fail. You may be sure that our debt to you is fully understood and will not be forgotten. The question of the permanent abiding-place of this [lv] manuscript will be settled after it has reached the hands of His Excellency.
Wherever it shall go it will be an object of reverent care. I do not think many Americans will gaze upon it without a little trembling of the lips and a little gathering of mist in the eyes, as they think of the story of suffering, of sorrow, of peril, of exile, of death and of lofty triumph which that book tells,—which the hand of the great leader and founder of America has traced on those pages. There is nothing like it in human annals since the story of Bethlehem.
Massachusetts will preserve it until the time shall come that her children are unworthy of it; and that time shall come,—never. Your Excellency, Gentlemen of the two Houses of the Legislature of Massachusetts, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Countrymen: The honorable and most gratifying duty with which I am charged is about to receive its final act of execution, for I have the book here, as it was placed in my hands by the Lord Bishop of London on April 29, intact then and now; and I am about to deliver it according to the provisions of the decree of the Chancellor of London, which has been read in your presence, and the receipt signed by me and registered in his court that I would obey the provisions of that decree.
I have kept my trust; I have kept the book as I received it; I shall deliver it into the hands of the representative of the people who are entitled to its custody. And now, gentlemen, it would be superfluous for me to dwell upon the historical features of this remarkable occasion, for it has been done, as we all knew it would be done, with ability, learning, eloquence and impressiveness, by the distinguished Senator who represents you so well in the Congress of the United States.
For all that related to myself, and for every gracious word of recognition and commendation that fell from his lips in relation to the part that I have taken in the act of restoration, I am profoundly grateful. It is an additional reward, but not the reward which induced my action.
To have served your State, to have been instrumental in such an act as this, was of itself a high privilege to me. The Bradford manuscript was in the library of Fulham palace, and if, by lawful means, I could have become possessed of the volume, and have brought it here and quietly deposited it, I should have gone to my home with the great satisfaction of knowing that I had performed an act of justice, an act of right between two countries.
Therefore the praise, however grateful, is additional, and I am very thankful for it. It may not be inappropriate or unpleasing to you should I state in a very simple manner the history of my relation to the return of this book, for it all has occurred within the last twelve months. I knew of the existence of this manuscript, and had seen the reproduction in facsimile.
I knew that attempts had been made, unsuccessfully, to obtain the original book. At that time Senator Hoar made a short visit to England, and in passing through London I was informed by him of the great interest that he, in [lxi] common with the people of this State, had in the restoration of this manuscript to the custody of the State. We discussed the methods by which it might be accomplished, and after two or three concurrent suggestions he returned to the United States, and presently I received, under cover from the Secretary of State,—a distinguished citizen of your own State, Mr.
Olney,—a formal note, suggesting rather than instructing that in an informal manner I should endeavor to have carried out the wishes of the various societies that had addressed themselves to the Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury, in order to obtain the return of this manuscript. It necessarily had to be done informally. The strict regulations of the office I then occupied forbade my correspondence with any member of the British government except through the foreign office, unless it were informal.
An old saying describes the entire case, that "When there's a will there's a way. At first there were suggestions of difficulty, some technical questions; and following a very safe rule, the first thought was, What is the law? There could be entertained no question as to the title to the manuscript in the possession of the British government.
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