CLAIMS OF SMITH TO AMERICAN GRATITUDE. 63 issued a royal proclamation confirming this Parliamentary grant. Prince Charles was its chief patron, and an interested party. Powerful nobles, :ich merchants, and daring and reckless adventurers, who were favorites at court, blended harmoniously in the new enterprise. Surely there was something substantial, on which to build the most extravagant hopes, when all these elements of power and success were brought together. The confidence of the Plymouth colony in Smith had been so great that they had appointed him Admiral for life; and now they entered into the strife for obtaining greater and more clearly defined privileges. Rut it proved a vain effort. The new monopolists succeeded, and hereafter the old Company disappears. Here too we part with Captain John Smith:-a name that will in all coming ages be uttered by all true American lips with something of the feeling which inspired George S. Hillard, in the close of his charming and best of all the biographies of this intrepid pioneer of American colonization—' The debt of gratitude which we of this country owe to Captain Smith can hardly be exaggerated. With the exception of Sir Walter Raleigh-and perhaps Richard Hakluyt-no one did so much towards colonizing and settling the coast of North America. The State of Virginia is under peculiar obligations to him as its virtual founder; since without his remarkable personal qualities and indefatigable exertions, the colony at Jamestown could never have taken root. In reading the history of his administration, we are made to feel in regard to him, as we do in regard to Washington, when we contemplate the events of the American Revolution: that he was a being specially appointed by divine Providence to accomplish the work entrusted to him. He was exactly fitted for the place which he filled, and not one of his many remarkable gifts could have been spared without serious detriment. 'His claims upon the gratitude of the people of New England are hardly He was the first to perceive the advantages held out by it as a place of settlement, in spite of its bitter skies and iron-bound coast, and to correct the erroneous, unfavorable impressions prevalent concerning it. Though he himself had no direct share in the settlement of Plymouth, yet without doubt it was owing to the interest which had been awakened by his writings and personal exertions, that the ranks of the colonists were so soon swelled by those accessions of men of character and substance, which gave them encouragement, and insured them prosperity and success. It was the peculiar good fortune of Captain Smith to stand in so interesting a relation to the two eldest States in the Union, and through them to the northern and southern sections of the country. The debt of gratitude due to him is national and American, and so should his glory be. Wherever upon this continent the English language is spoken, his deeds should be recounted, and his memory hallowed. His services should not only be not forgotten, but should be 'freshly remembered.' His name should not only be honored by the silent canvas, and the cold marble, but his praises should dwell living upon 64 THE PILGRIMS IN HOLLAND. the lips of men, and should be handed down by fathers to their children Poetry has imagined nothing more stirring and romantic than his life an] adventures, and History, upon her ample page, has recorded few more ho orable and spotless names.' 1 The Pilgrims in Holland.-But while this stupendous scheme of the court, its favorites, and the monopolists of England, was absorbing public attention, a small band of exiles from their native land, who had found el asylum in Holland from the religious persecution of England, were silently maturing by faith, prayer, and stalwart heroism, a plan of colonization which was as far to eclipse all the feeble attempts of lords, merchants, and poteatates, as the noiseless processes of nature surpass the puny parades of mɛ n. We need not enter into the European history of the Pilgrim Fathers; as Webster said of them and their descendants,- The world knows it by heart: .the past, at least, is secure.'' 1 After summing up Captain Smith's noble character, Mr. George S. Hillard, in his Life and Adventures of Captain John Smith,' says of his writings: He was alive to the beautiful and grand in the outward world, as his animated descriptions testify; and above all, his style is characterized by fervor, earnestness, and enthusiasm. His heart is in everything which he writes. His mind is warmed and kindled by the contemplation of his subject, and it is impossible to read any of his works-after being accustomed to his antiquated diction-without ourselves catching a portion of their glow. If he has not the smoothness, he has not the monotony of a professed man of letters. His style has the charm of individuality. It has a picture-like vividness arising from the circumstance, that he describes, not what he has heard, but what he has seen and experienced. Reading his tracts, as we do now, with the comment ary which the lapse of two centuries has given them, we cannot but wonder at the extent of his knowledge, the accuracy of his observation, and the confidence, amounting almost to inspiration, with which he makes predictions, which, it is needless to say, have been most amply fulfilled. Had he done nothing but write his books, we should have been under the highest obligations to him; and the most impartial judgment would have assigned to him an honorable station among the authors of his age.' And of his death: The death of Captain Smith occurred in 1631, at London, in the fifty-second year of his age. We know nothing of the circumstances which attended it, and we are equally ignorant of his domestic and personal history; with whom he was related and connected, where he resided, what was the amount of his fortune, what were his habits, tastes, personal appearance, maners, and conversation; and in general, of those personal details which modest men commonly do not record about themselves.'-Life and Adventures of Capt. John Smith, by George S. Hillard, in Sparks American Biography, vol. ii. pp. 388, 395-7. And now the English at Leyden, trusting in God and in themselves, made ready for their departure. The ships which they had provided-the Speedwell, of sixty tons, the Mayflower, of one hundred and eighty tons, could hold but a minority of the congregation; and Robinson was therefore detained at Leyden, while Brewster, the governing elder, who was also able as a teacher, conducted such of the youngest and strongest as freely offered themselves.' Every enterprise of the Pilgrims began from God. A solemn fast was held. 'Let us seek of God,' said they, a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.' Anticipating their high destiny, and the sublime doctrines of liberty that would grow out of the principles on which their religious tenets were established, Robinson gave them a farewell, breathing a freedom of opinion, and an independence of authority, such as were then hardly known in the world. "I charge you, before God and his blessed ang is, that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has ir ɔre truth yet to break forth out of his holy word. I ca not sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed chur hes who are come to a period in religion, and will o at present no further than the instruments of their reformation.-Luther and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not unto the whole counsel of God.-I beseech you, rememb it,— 'tis an article of your church covenant,-that you be ready to receive whatever truth shail be made known to you from the written word of God.' But When the ship was ready to carry us away writes Edward Winslow," the brethren that staid at Leyden, having again solemnly sought the Lord with us and for us, feasted us that were to go, at our pastor house being large; where we refreshed ourselves, afte, tears, with singing of psalms, making joyful melod, in our hearts, as well as with the voice, there being any of the congregation very expert in music; and indeed it was the sweetest melody that ever mine ea s heard. After this, they accompanied us to Delft Hav n, where we went to embark, and then feasted us again; and after prayer performed by our pastor, when a flood of tears was poured out, they accompanied us the ship, but were not able to speak one to another for the abundance of sorrow to part. But we only, going aboard, gave them a volley of small shot, and thre: pieces of ordnance; and so, lifting up our hands to each other, and our hearts for each other to the Lord ur God, we departed.' A prosperous wind soon wafts the vessel to Southampton, and, in a fortnight, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, freighted with the first colony of New England, leave Southampton for America. they had not gone far upon the Atlanac before the smaller vessel was found to need repairs, and they entered the port of Dartmouth. After the lapse of eight precious days, they again weigh anchor; the coast of England recedes; already they are unfurling their sails on the broad ocean, when the captain of the Speedwell, with his company, dismayed at the dangers of the enterprise, once more pretends that his ship is too weak for the service. They put back to Plymouth “and agree to dismiss her, and those who are willing, return to London, though this was very grievous and discouraging." Having thus winnowed their numbers, the little band, not of resolute men only, but wives, some far gone in pregnancy, children, infants, a floating village, yet but one hundred and two souls, went on board the single ship, which was hired only to convey them across the Atlantic; and, on the sixth day of September, 1620, thirteen years after the first colonization in Virginia, two months before the concession of the grand charter of Plymouth, without any warrant from the sovereign of England, without any useful charter from a corporate body, the passengers in the Mayflower set sail for a new world, where the past could offer no favorable auguries -Bancroft, vel. i. p. 306–308. EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIMS. 65 Embarkation of the Pilgrims, September 6, 1620.-At last the Mayflower was ready for sea, and she lifted her anchor for the Bay of New York; for the Pilgrims had intended to settle near the mouth of the Hudson. Fifty five men-21 with families, one hundred and two in all! After a long and stormy passage of sixty-three days, they gained their first sight of land; and two days later the Mayflower swung to her moorings in the harbor of Cape Cod. Their purpose of settling on the banks of the Hudson was irrevocably overruled by the Providence which directed their fortunes; as the Virginia Colony, which had sailed for the coast of North Carolina, was driven by a tempest into the broad bay of the Chesapeake. Historians have indulged in fanciful conjectures as to how different would have been the results, in either case. But such speculations belong to the vague history of events which have never happened,' which is the realm of the romancer, rather than to the sober record of facts, which is reserved for the historian. Before any person had left the ship, the whole company assembled in the cabin, and entered into a voluntary compact, in the following words: 'In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign, King James, having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together, into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid. And by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the Colony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." 1 To this instrument Mr. Morton sets the subscribers in the following order: but their names corrected, with their titles and families, I take from the list at the end of governor Bradford's folio manuscript. Only this I observe, that out of modesty he omits the title of Mr. to his own name, which he ascribes to several others. XAMES 1. Mr. John Carver, 2. William Bradford, 3. Mr. Edward Winslow,*. 4. Mr. William Brewster," 5. Mr. Isaac Allerton,* 6. Capt. Miles Standish,*. 7. John Alden,. 8. Mr. Samuel Fuller,† 9. Mr. Christopher Martin,* §. 10. Mr. William Mullins,* 11. Mr. William White,* 12. Mr. Richard Warren,t. 13. John Howland, a. 14. Mr. Stephen Hopkins,' 15. Edward Tilly,* 16. John Tilly,§. 17. Francis Cook,t. 18. Thomas Rogers,§. 19. Thomas Tinker," 20. John Rigdale," 21. Edward Fuller,* § 22. John Turner,§.. a. He was of governor Carver's family. NO, IN N. B. 1. Those with this mark (*) brought their wives with them; those with this (†), for the present, left them either in Holland or England. 2. Some left behind them part, and others all their children, who afterwards came over. 3. Those with this mark (§) deceased before the end of March. NAMES. 4 31. Gilbert Winslow... c. He was of Mr. Hopkins's family. 8 36. Richard Clarke,§. 3 38. John Allerton, §.. b. He was of governor Winslow's family. -Prince's Chronological History of New England, p. 172, Boston, 1826. |