princes that Europe has produced, it advances with all the irresistible force and majesty of truth.

"In the course of one hundred years from its first memorable origin in the intrepid Luther, it grows purer and brighter in its progress, till in the northern parts of England, it raises up a firm and meritorious band of worthies, who emulate the purity of primitive christianity, who enlure mockeries and scourgings, poverty and imprisonment, and at length a voluntary exile from their native land, brave the dangers of the ocean, the toils and terrors of the wilderness, here to enjoy, with the liberty of a good conscience, the pure scriptural worship of their God, without the mixture of human impositions, and to secure a firm and perpetual establishment for their posterity, founded on the true and holy principles which they professed.

"The fathers of New England, though of all men the most humble, could not be unconscious of the superior excellence of the maxims and principles by which they were governed, and aspired to the truly honourable fame of becoming the founders of a new and peculiar nation.

"This resolution was not the result of enthusiasm or of unreasonable disquietude. The design was debated in their society with all that coolness, deliberation and foresight for which they were distinguished. The perils of the sea, the horrors of famine, the cruelties of the savage es, the dreary gloom of the wilderness, and all the dangers and distresses incident to their undertaking, were strongly represented, and became the frequent topics of their anzious contemplation. The reply is still extant on their records, and it is a reply that was decisive. It was answered," That all great and honourable actions were accompa nied with great difficulties, and must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage. It was granted the dangers were great, but not desperate: the difficulties many, but not invincible: that their condition was not ordinary; their ends were good and laudable, and therefore they might expect a blessing of God in their proceeding : yea, although they should lose their lives in this action, yet they might have comfort in the same, and their endeavours would be honourable." Animated with such views, the work commences with ardour. Part of the church embark; melted by the tears of their anxious

friends, instructed by the counsels, encouraged by the prayers and blessing of the venerable Robinson, and confiding in the protecting care of the Almighty, they steer their course to these then dreary shores.

"Driven by storms, or deceived by their ship master, instead of their place of destination, this spot is selected for settlement, and this day completes one hundred and eighty years, since your soil was first impressed by the weary feet of those illustrious pilgrims. One hundred and one forlorn Englishmen then became joint tenants with the savages of the long extent of coast, from the St. Lawrence to the Chesapeak.

"So interesting and affecting was their situation, that there are few of their descendants, probably, to whom the early incidents of their settlement are not familiar.

"At the annual return of this inclement season, you cannot be unmindful of the sorrows and the sufferings of those, who here laid the foundation for your surrounding comforts. The plain, unadorned, yet forcible narration which they have left to us, exhibits their situation in such lively colours, that we seem to be present at the scenes which they describe. We see the approaching shallop, with its precious charge, struggling in the boisterous sea; their garments are stiffened with ice, their limbs benumbed with cold; the rudder breaks; the storm rises; the night advances; we hear the pilot's despairing cry, Lord have mercy on us-The Lord has mercy on them.-We next see them surround the cheering fire on yonder island, and there with bended knees, render their acknowledgments to heaven on their first christian sabbath; we follow them in their march through the land, over the deserted cornfields, among the delicate springs and sweet running brooks;" we behold them measuring out their lots, and erecting their thatched cottages by that murmuring stream; we see the friendly Samoset advancing to their rendezvous, and greeting them with the surprising salutation, "Welcome, Englishmen." On that hill, stands

the grave and majestic Massasoit with his sable train. Standish advances boldly to the brook; the drum and trumpet sound; the chief is conducted to the governor, and seated in the midst of the admiring circle; mutual salutations and civilities are exchanged, and a league of amity is concluded.

"With these agreeable occurrences is mingled the sad scenery of death. The houses so lately erected, are almost desolate; of one hundred persons, scarce fifty remain, and in that wretched remnant, must be numbered many helpless women, and still more helpless children, At length,

"From the lucid chambers of the South,

Looks out the joyous Spring, looks out and siniles." Ab! transient smiles; their heaviest calamity is yet to befall them. Who is he that comes with slow and feeble step from yonder field, his implements of labour fallen to the ground, and his hand lifted to his aching head? It is the man, first in their affection and esteem, their beloved govExhausted with cares, ernor, the excellent Carver. his weary spirit hastens to its home. His affectionate companions surround his bed; they gaze on his altered visage; the faculties of that exalted mind are distracted by disease-he faints-he dies.

"Now are we ready to say, the establishment attempted by these intrepid adventurers, must fail of its accomplishment. Heaven frowns upon their enterprise; the mortality that has been experienced, the uninhabited desert, the scattered bones of the unburied natives indicate some pestilential influence, which renders it a clime unfit for the habitation of man, and the miserable survivors must soon abandon the fatal spot, or follow their companions to an untimely grave! Be not dismayed; the thick darkness that envelopes this infant plantation will be dissipated. It is destined to exist and to flourish, for Bradford, Winslow, Standish, Brewster and Allerton remain. Fuller, Warren, Hopkins and a few other heroic spirits, are their associates, and under the influence of that God on whom they rely, will still be its staff and its stay.

"So disposed is the human mind to be exclusively occupied with passing scenes, and to bury in oblivion transactions obscured by the mantle of time, that every nation has practically acknowledged the utility of commemora tive institutions. Thus among the multitude of Grecian games we find the Carpean pantomime,* representing the early occupations and perils of their fathers. The husbandman, at the plough with his arms by his side, alternately prosecuting his rural labours, and repelling Xenophon's Anabasic.,

APPENDIX.

the attacks of lawless plunderers.

377

Thus, at the joy. ful feast of tabernacles, did the children of Israel dwell in booths made of olive branches, palm branches and willows of the brook, a striking memorial of the manner in which their fathers abode in the wilderness, And thus is when brought out of the land of Egypt.

it your laudable practice, to celebrate this pleasing anniversary, devoted to contemplation and discourse on the lives and actions of your memorable ancestors; uniting in innocent festivals, and selecting from your abundance, as the most agreeable ornament of your tables, that food, on which they were compelled to subsist; not hiding from your children, what has been told you by your fathers, but by seasonable instruction and apt memorials leading them to the times that are past, and impressing on their tender minds salutary and indelible lessons of magnanimity and virtue. Let it be a day, devoted to the chaste pleasures of cheerfulness, tempered with reflection.

"We assemble in remembrance of men, whose lives were indeed laborious and marked with suffering, beyond the common lot of humanity. But we must not indulge the idea that they were miserable. They had joys to mere men of the world unknown. Theirs was the happiness of pure and upright hearts, of generous sympathy with the distressed, of a warm and undissembled affection for each other, being, as they express themselves, "knit together in a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant in the Lord." Theirs was the satisfaction resulting from a firm, and consoling belief, that they were destined by the Almighty to be instruments of great good to mankind. Theirs in fine was the happiness of pursuing the noblest ends by the most honourable means, like our departed WASHINGTON, constantly intent upon an important object, little moved by the vicissitudes and impediments in the way that led to it, and like him, beholding the blessed and complete accomplishment of their sublime purposes.

"Amidst the complaints of modern degeneracy, it is gratifying to observe an increasing attachment to the wise institutions of our ancestors among men of intelligence and reflection, and on this interesting day, in the metropolis of our state, a numerous and respectable association

participate in your sentiments, and indulge in emotions congenial with those by which you are animated.

May

the salutary disposition prevail, until it matures into principle, and by recurring to the original maxims of our state, in seeking and asking for the old paths, may we find the good way, and walk therein.

"The bold and presumptuous devices of those who "speak swelling words of vanity," and while they "promise us liberty, are themselves the servants of corruption," shall thus be repelled, as the sands of the sea restrain the boisterous ocean; or, if they should be, for a time, predominant, by those ancient and wholesome fountains, you will be preserved from the vile contagion; you will be animated with undaunted resolution in the cause of truth, of virtue and of genuine liberty; you will contend valiantly on the ramparts erected by your fathers; and the fair inheritance which they have left, will never be sur◄ rendered.

"Favoured inhabitants of venerable ground, we visit your abodes with pleasure. We tread the turf, which your fathers have often trod, but we search for their tombs in. vain. Perhaps it should not be regretted; they may be hidden from your view, lest reverence for your ancestors, should degenerate to useless or debasing superstition. Having few visible memorials of men, so illustrious, in the indulgence of your grateful emotions, you are prompted to a study of their characters, and from that study you cannot fail of instruction; of strong and operative incitements to every manly pursuit, every generous and elevated purpose.

"Their ashes rest-IND No marble tells us where.”

But they live in their writings; they live in their institutions and your affections; let them also live in your imitation."

From an Oration, delivered at Plymouth, Dec. 22d, 1802, on the forementioned Anniversary.

By the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Esq.

"IN reverting to the period of their origin, other na tions have generally been compelled to plunge into the chaos of impenetrable antiquity, or to trace a lawless an