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THE EARLY NEW ENGLAND COLONISTS.

ADDRESS

SBUVXSSD BEFOBB THE

NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY

OP TH5

CITY OE MONTEEAL,

DECEMBER 22. 1869

JAMES B. BONAR,

PASTOB OP THE AMERICAN PRESBVTIHIAN CHUHOH, HONTBEALi AND CHAPLAIN OF THE 80CIETT.

iPlontreal :
PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

1860.

MoNTBEAi, December 23d, 1869.
Rev. Jamks B. Bonar,

Chaplain, 3'. E. S.
Dkab Silt.

On behalf of the Comiuitteo of the New England Society, the undersigned beg
1(1 oH'cT yoM their most hearty thanks, for the very able and eloquent oration which
you delivered before the Society yesterday, and to solicit a copy of the same for
publication.

Very respectfully yours,

JOHN FROTHINGHAM.

President, N. E. S.
Jacob De Witt,

Secrefari/.

Montreal, January, 1860.

(jENTLEMEN,

Grateful for your kindly appreciation of my Address on "Fore Fathers' Day," I
may not withhold the copy you request, whatever my opinion of its many defects,
which other duties prevent me from attempting to remove. I place it, therefore,
at your disposal, with best wishes foi your Society and yourselves.

Respectfully and truly yours,

JAMES B. BONAR.
Messrs. John FeothinghaM,
Jacob De Witt.

ADDRESS.

Brethben op the New England Society ;

(

I CONGRATULATE you on the return of this 22nd day of Decem-
ber. Another year with its hopes, its joys, its opfjortunities of use-
fulness has passed away. It has been one of many pleasures to you
as individuals : I trust it has also been one of profit and of enlarged
usefulness to you as a Society. You have, doubtless, been permit-
ted to aid not a few of your countrymen to return to their friends,
or to obtain the necessaries of life. You have been called to mourn
the loss of but one of your number — ^though he was one of your
oldest, ablest, and most highly respected countrymen in Montreal.
The memory of Jacob De Witt's sturdy New England character,
and warm, open-handed interest in the general objects of your
Society is still green among us. Doubtless the return of this day
reminds you of the loss you have sustained in his departure to the
better home. It is cause for devout gratitude that but one of your
working members has been taken from you.

The year has been one of external peace and of internal pros-
perity to our common country. The earth has yielded her increase
freely, so that throughout all her borders there is an abundance of
food for man and for beast. Commerce has enlarged her sphere —
scattering her many blessings with a liberal hand among all classes
of the community, while enriching those who are more immediately
engaged in her service. The Republican Institutions of our be-
loved country have been tested during another year : as heretofore

they have proved themselves both suitable and useful. Another
State has been added to the Union, and one more Star placed upon
our national flag. Within the same period, two new Territories
have been organized ; and, we trust, that before another return of
this aimivereary, the Confederacy will be increased by at loast one
new free State, and perhaps by tu>o.

During the year, several momentous questions have engaged the
attention of our countrymen. Some of these have been amicably
adjusted, others remain for future settlement. But there is nothing
in the present state of New England to awaken anxiety in the pat-
riotic bosom ; nor in any of the topics before the general public,
except, perhaps, the overshadowing one of the Slave power — to
betoken danger to the Confederacy. Engrossed in the development
of her own wonderful resources, the young giantess of the West
pursues her rapid march in the paths of peace and plenty, while the
nations of Europe consume their energies and waste their resources
in preparing for deadly conflict in a general war. I congratulate
you, then, that the return of this hallowed day finds the Pilgrims'
children everywhere enjoying, in an ever increasing abundance,
those rich blessings which only their Fore Fathers' God can bestow.
Bands of our brethren will to-day assemble in almost every city ou
this continent, and in many of the cities of Europe ; wliile they look
back mth honest pride, they will also regard the present state of
our country with lively gratitude, and look forward with earnest
anticipations of a yet greater glory, a larger prosperity, and more
extensive freedom. May every return of this day strengthen their
faith and brighten their anticipations !

We instmctively love to remember those who have filled impor-
tant places, or performed heroic actions in the past. We naturally
delight CO mark the days on which have occurred events pregnant
with rich blessings to us or to our race. The history of the past
supplies us with many persons and events worthy of being grate-
fully remembered and animally commemorated. Every nation has
several such anniversaries. W^e honor them for honoring their an-

cestors ; we think the better of them for frequently recalling the
noble characters, and mentioning the heroic achievements of those
from whom their advantages come. And you, brethren of New
England, delight to do the same.

The patriotic John Adams remarked, that " the Fourth of July,
1776, was a memorable epoch, to be commemorated as the day of
deliverance, — to be colemnized with pomp, shows, bonfires, and il-
luminations from one end of the continent to another, throughout
all generations." He was, doubtless, correct. But to my mind
the day we celebrate — the 22nd December, 1620, — the day when
the national existence of New England began — marks a grander
epoch, still more worthy of being commemorated by us, and by our
successors for ever. Lord Chatham's remark respecting the mem-
bers of the first Continental Congress, is even more true of those
who on this day landed at Plymouth: "he had never," he said,
"heard or read of any body of men superior, or indeed equal to
them, in all that constitutes mental greatness and moral worth." —
This we may honestly say of the Pilgrims. On this account, the
anniversary of their disembarkation has long been regularly cele-
brated in prose and in verse, iu sermon, in oration, and in poem —
a patriotic and religious duty, to which have been consecrated the
highest efibrts of many of the noblest and purest minds ever pro-
duced by the country to whose colonization they led the way. And
you, gentlemen, though residing prosperously and contentedly un-
der the hoiiored flag of Old England, would not forget the virtues
or the deeds of those to whom we and the world are indebted for
much of our virtue and nearly all our happiness. By this annual
celebration you would teach your children to know and reverence
the stock from which they are sprung, and to glory in the name of
American.

In your first annual address, you listened to an eloquent discourse
on the vision of the Pilgrims. Your second one was a most searching
analysis representing individuality, originality, and conscientiousness
as the sources of the Pilgi'im's character. Your last was an exhi-

bition of the present state and prospects of our country, or the vision
accomplished. In these three able and timely discourses you have
had presented the leading historic facts connected with the day we
celebrate. But the subject is a large one, on which we may pro-
fitably linger. In full view, therefore, of your previous addresses
I would to-day, without making any attempt at oratorical display,
direct your attention to some of the leading traits of the Pilgrims
and other early New England Colonists. I am encouraged to do
this from the position I hold as your Chaplain, and from the convic-
tion that some of these traits are greatly needed at the present time.
Another reason I find in the fact, that gi*avo popular misapprehen-
sions exist on this subject. History is not read so generally, nor
are its statements so clearly apprehended as we might expect them
to be in this boasted nineteenth century. All admit the early New
England Colonists to have been great and good men, worthy of our
reverence ; yet there is a wide-spread feeling that there was much
in their principles that was stem, much in their character that was
unlovely, and many things in their practice which need to be ex-
cused. This feeling, unworthy of us and dishonoring to the Fathers,
originates in an imperfect knowledge of the men and of the facts in
their history.

The sixteenth century was an age calculated to form and develop
charactera of the most wonderful combinations. The art of print-
ing, then only in its infancy, had begun to exert its marvellous power
over the world's intellect. Mind was aroused from its long torpor,
and an insatiable thirst for knowledge awakened. The spirit of
investigation was abroad as never before. Men called in question
everything — being desirous of understanding the foundations of every
civil, moral, and religious claim. The vigorous attacks of .he Lion
hearted Reformers upon the Roman Catholic system, and their zeal-
ous proclamation of the long forgotten truths of the glorious Gospel
of Christ, greatly aided in producing and fostering this free spirit of
independent enquiry. It was an age of keen and often of bittci^
controversy— one party demanding the fullest submission of heart

and intellect, the other claiming the largest right of private judg-
ment in all things civil and religious. And the unwise course pur-
sued by the different princes who then exercised authority over the
nations, only strengthened this tendency and increased the turmoil.
Ignorant of the spirit of the age, and jealous of any encroachment
upon their extensive and longestabUshed prerogatives, they haughtily
oppressed the people, and arbitrarily sought to crush the new-bom,
but deathless, spirit of free enquuy. They would make no conces-
sions to the people, now fully awakened to a sense of their rights
and a perception of their wrongs.

While these internal struggles convulsed the nations, each king-
dom was at the same time arrayed against every other. It was an
age in which the lust for territorial conquest and national aggran-
dizement burned very fiercely. Holland and England had pene-
trated to India, concerning the wealth of which fabulous notions
were then entertained. America, recently discovered, excited the
cupidity of all Europe. England and France, Spain and Holland,
all looked to it with eager desires of that gold which was believed
to be here in unlimited abundance. Each nation sought to outstrip
and to enrich itself at the expense of its neighbors. Take it all to-
gether, the age was one of marked peculiarities, all tending to form
characters of the most singular description. To men, living in such
circumstances, the greatest danger perhaps was that of running into
extremes and extravagancies. They were apt to take one-sided
views, and to form characters destitute of aught like symmetry. —
And this was in very many cases the actual result. Think of the
open, unblushing wickedness of one class, and the rigid ascetism of
another — the confessed dissoluteness and the stem morality — the
worship and the contempt of wealth — the cruelty of the persecutor
and the patient endurance of the martyr — the lovely piety of many
of the Non-Conformists and the wild, absurd opinions of the various
Sectaries that then flourished : think of these things, and you will
clearly apprehend that the tendency of the age was to drive men to
extremes, to lead them to form most extravagant principles and

characters. It was an age of rapid and great transition, fraught
with vast danger to individual character and social habits. Moder-
ation was then as now, a virtue most gi'catly needed, and yet most
difficult of attainment.

It was in such circumstances that the Pilgrims and early Oolo-
nists of New England were cradled. Their strength, symmetry,
and beauty of character can be properly appreciated only as seen
against this dark back-ground. Amidst the greatest extremes, they
were characterized, in most things, by marked and decided modera-
tion. It is a virtue little noted and seldom mentioned, yet one of
the most useful, and the rarest in this world of one-sidedness. As
will appear throughout, moderation was truly a characteristic of the
Pilgrims.

It is well known that piety — reverence for Deity — w^% one of the
mop*' marked characteristics of the early New England Colonists. —
They were not negative men in anything, least of all in this respect.
They were decidedly religious men. Every one of those who
landed at Plymouth from the Mayflower, was a professing Christian.
Their piety pervaded their entire lives, fonned thjir characters, and
influenced them in all their action?. It was this that led them first
to Holland and the" to New England. They can be appreciated
and understood only as meir religious character is apprehended. It
has been well said, * " They were men whose minds had derived a
peculiar tone and elevation from the daily contemplation of superior
beings and eternal interests. They were not content with acknowledg-
ing an over-ruling Providence in general terms, as the custom is, but
they habitually ascribed every event to the will of that Great Being
for whose poAver nothing was too vast, for whose inspection notliinf;
was too minute. To know, to serve, to enjoy Him was with them
the one great end of existence. They rejected with contempt the
ceremonioud homage, which others substituted for the pure worship
of the soul. Instead of being content with catching occasional
glimpses of Deity through an obscuring veil, they aspired to gaze

Edinburgh Review, vol. xlii. p. 339.

full ou the intolerable brightness, and to commune with Him face to
face. From this came their contempt of earthly distinctions. The
diflference between the greatest and meanest of mankind seemed to
vanish, when compared with the boundless interval which separated
the whole race from Him on whom their own eyes were constantly
fixed. They recognized no title to superiority but the divine favor,
and themselves confident of that they despised all the blandishments
and dignities of the world. If their names were not found in the
registers of heralds they felt assured they were recorded in the
Book of Life. If their steps were not attended by a splendid train
of obsequiou*? menials, legions of ministering angels had charge over
them. Their palaces were houses not made Avith hands ; their dia-
dems, crowns of glory that should never fade away. On the rich
and the eloquent, on nobles and priests they looked down with
mingled pity and contempt, for they esteemed themselves rich in a
more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language ;
nobles by the right of a new creation, and priests by the imposition
of a mightier hand. In their estimation, the very meanest of them-
selves was a being, to whose fate a mysterious and terrible impor-
tance belonged, — on whose slightest action the spirits of light and
darknesE looked with anxious interest, who had been destined before
the heavens and the earth were created to enjoy a feUcity which
should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away.
Events, which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes,
had been ordained on his account. For his sake empucs had risen
and flourished, and decayed. For his sake the Almighty had pro-
claimed his will, by the pen of the Evangelist and the harp of the
Prophet. He had been rescued by no common Deliverer from the
grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of
no vulgar agony, by the blood of no eaHhly sacrifice. It was for
him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent,
that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the suf-
ferings of her expiring God.

In view of such facts, and sustained by such inspiring principles,

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the PUgrims lived. It was through these, to them honestly believed
and vividly apprehended truths, that their moderation was made to
appear unto all, while with a holy enthusiasm and fearless contempt
of earthly dangers they pursued their pilgrimage to that better
country which they believed to be reserved for them ; these were
assuredly their grand, central, over-ruling principles. Theirs were
liv-^ j of faith. Their piety was their grandest and most distinguish-
ing characteristic. It was that which enabled them to do and to
dare more than other men : it was that through which they accom-
plished the most for the world, and for you their descendants. It
ought never to be overlooked or unmentioned on this anniversary.

You will allow me to say, without referring in the most remote
degree to the theological bearings of the subject, that the type of
the Pilgrims' piety was a very noble one. Being founded in clear
views of what they honestly regarded as divine truth, and m deep
heart experiences, it was neither silly and sentimental, nor barren
and selfish. Their piety did not consist mainly in dogmas nor chiefly
in externals ; it had as much reality as semblance ; more substance
than form ; more vitality than beauty ; and, it may have been, more
strength than tenderness. I should say it was a soul permeating
emotion, created by an influential principle, rather than a benevo-
lent action founded on a sparkling sentiment. It bore a much closer
resemblance to the motive of a man laboring for a purpose, than to
that of a child at play ; it was a spiing morning's resolution, rather
than an autumn evening's reverie. '' A Christian is the highest
style of man." The Pilgrims were of the noblest type of Christians.
I need not remind you, gentlemen, that the impress of this exalted
type of piety is still seen in many places throughout New England,
and wherever the descendants of the Pilgrims have wandered. May
we do them honor by imitating them in this their noblest and most
marked characteristic.

The Pilgrims and other early New England Colonists were dis-
tinguished hardly more for their piety, than for their extensive
knowledge and love of solid learning. They were picked men, very

diflFerent from the mass of ater emigrants. The early settlers of
Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven numbered
among them many persons eminent for their learning and distin-
guished for their personal condition. Carver, the first Governor of
Plymouth, was prominent on account of his elevated character and
of the large property which he liberally used for the advancement
of that cause for which he staked, and finally sacrificed his life. —
William Bradford, a name honored by every descendant of the Pil-
grims, although a self-taught man, was familiar with the Dutch and
Flemish languages, and well versed in Latin and Greek. Being
eager, as he tells us, " to see the ancient oracles of God in their
native beauiy," he employed his leisure hours in the study of Heb-
rew. Cotton, one of the most learned men of his time, was educated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was eminently distinguished
for his scholastic attainments. He wrote Latin with elegance, was
a critic in Greek, and so conversant with Hebrew as to be able to
discourse in that ancient language. Brewster, the steadfast and
devout Elder, who, in time of famine, gave thanks to God that he
and his family were permitted " to suck of the abundance of the
seas and of the treasures hid in the sands," — was at one time con-
nected with the British embassy in Holland. Like many of his
fellow Pilgrims, he had been educated at the University of Cam-
bridge. Higgenson was a graduate of Emmanuel College. Eaton
and Hopkins had been eminent merchants in London. Davenport,
a scholar distinguished at Oxford, and a preacher of wide celebrity
in England, was throughout life eminent alike for virtue and learn-
ing. The brave Edward Winslow, who offered himself as a hostage
for his Colony in their first interview with Mas-sas-so-it, the savage
but estimable monarch of Mount Hope, and who sacrificed his life
in that unfortunate expedition sent by Cromwell against the Span-
iards in the West Indies, was possessed of large fortune and exten-
sive information. The eloquent Hooker, one of the founders of the
Connecticut Colony, was educated at Cambridge. Stone, his as-
sociate, and a graduate of the same TJniversity, was one of the most

accurate logicians of his age — celebrated not more for his acutenesa
than for humour, wit, and pleasantry. Winthrop, a name honored
by many illustrious men, although the heir to a fine estate, was edu-
cated for the law. But I need not enlarge the catalogue. If we
look at the whole body of the emigrants by the Mayflower and
Speedwell, the Arbella, the Ambrose, the Talbot, and the Jewell,
we can no where find names more eminent for prudence and fore-
cast, or more remarkable for intelligence, enterprise, and courage.
They were the intimate friends and life long correspondents of Baxter
and Howe, and Selden and Milton, and other luminaries among the
Puritans of England. They proved their appreciation of solid learn-
ing by the establishment of schools and academies for all the youth
of the Colonies, as well as for their own children. Two centuries
ago they inaugurated a school system vastly superior to any that
has ever yet been estabUshed in their Fatherland, or m any of the
other countries of Europe. The University of Harvard was founded
at great expense, for men in their circumstances, only eight years
after the first settlement of Massachusetts Colony.

Their great prudence and extensive knowledge may, I think, be
gathered from that document which they drew up and signed on
the day of their arrival in Cape Cod Harbor. This constitution or
fundamental law — framed before they set foot on the New England
soil — was the precursor, or seminal principle, of all those wonderful
efforts that have since been made to fix the foundations of indepen-
dent, voluntary, self-governing communities or states. Its adoption
in such trying circumstances exhibited the great intelligence, the
wonderful prudence and forecast of that brave little band of Pil-
grims. The document itself ought to be printed in letters of gold
above every bench of justice, and on the front of every State House
in New England.

Their prudence and intelligence appear in the laws which they from
time to time enactea. These seem wonderful, considering the then
existing state of jurisprudence in England. They were Englishmen
— ^be it remembered — warmly attached to all the institutions and to

most of the forms of their native country. Yet they did not allow
themselves to be trammelled by British precedent. They seem
to have looked at law in the abstract as containing nUes of civil
government for free and intelligent men, who were imposing just
restraints upon themselves rather than lording it over others. With
a fearless neglect of ancient customs, and of forms rendered sacred
by antiquity, they began a system of legal reform so soon as they
trod the New England soil. They affected no disregard for the wis-
dom or learning of their ancestors ; they made no pretensions to
any better knowledge of man's true social position than that which
prevailed in England ; nevertheless, with a steady eye upon ancient
precedents and English usage, they began a system of legal change,
radical yet conservative. They opened the Bible and sought to
form laws in accordance only with its sphrit and precepts. A high
authority has said : " The known defects in the laws and practises
of England, pointed out and forcibly stated by Lord Brougham in
his great Law Reform Speeches, were discovered and banished from
the New England Colonies by their first settlors. Nor are there
any essential changes or improvements, called for by that eminent
English Statesman, which were not actually adopted by one or an-
other of the early New England Colonies."

I might here mention many instances, collected from various
quarters, of their wisdom in legal reforms — some of which are still
being vainly sought for in other countries. Take, for example, the
subject of imprisonment for debt, one of the most barbarous usages
of the darkest night of the Middle Ages — a law only very slightly
modified by our own Canadian Parliament at its last Session. In
1650, it was enacted in Connecticut that " no person should be im-
prisoned for any debt or fine, except when there appeared to be some
estate which he would not produce." Nor was this a mere theory
or a dead letter. It is a proud boast that no honest debtor was ever
confirmed in a Connecticut prison. Thus also in a case of bankruptcy,
no preference or priority of claim was admitted ; the law directed
that all attachments should inure to the benefit of all creditors in

proportion to their respective claims. The justice of this is obvious,
and yet there are places, as you gentlemen know, where it has not
even yet been adopted.

Take another Dlustration from the law of juries. The Lord Chief
Justice of England is even now agitating a rofDrm which was ac-
complished two centuries ago in one of the New England Colonies.
They enacted that juries might consist of six or twelve persons, ac-
cording to the importance of the subject to be brought before them,
and that the decision of four out of the six, or eight of the twelve,
should be conclusive, unless a new trial was granted. By this they
sought to avoid that expense, delay, and injury which the demand
for absolute unanimity in the minds of twelve men so often produces
to all parties concerned.

Besides this, legal forms were simplified. Wise and equal laws
were provided for a just distribution of estates among children and
heirs, while primogenitures were entirely abolished ; and no reform
has proved a greater blessing to the country than this. The cri-
minal laws of Europe, at that time truly Draconian, were greatly
softened, though doubtless not so much as they ought to have been.
Nevertheless, great and much needed reforms were made in the
whole system of jurisprudence by the early Colonists. Many of
their reforms have already been adopted in other countries as
well as incorporated into the constitutions of the States that have
since been formed. The world has thus pronounced its verdict as
to their wisdom and intelligence in founding States and governing
communities.

Much ridicule has been cast upon the founders of the New
Haven Colony, on account of the supposed character of what are
known as the " Blue Laws of Connecticut." It has often been said
and sung that they contain grave enactments against offending beer
barrels, and that the austerity of Puritan practice prohibited a young
husband from smiling upon his blushing wife, or a mother from kiss-
ing her babe on a Sunday. The few who have read these laws,
declare that there is nothing in them that is not moderate, wise and

prudent — clearly founded upon a commandment of which no one
will venture to dispute the wisdom. In fact, the wisest and best men
in New "ork and Philadelphia are even now attempting to enforce
just such wise and salutary Sabbath laws ; and nineteen-twentieths
of the population approve and sustain them in this course. The mod-
eration, as well as the wisdom, of these early Colonists appear in
their laws and rules of government no less clearly than in their well
regulated lives. > It is to be regretted — to-day we may confess it —
their successors have not always possessed as much wisdom, nor
manifested equal moderation in the laws which they have enacted ;
yet the New England States are confessedly among the most moral
and best, because least, governed communities in the world.

I would mention as traits belonging to the first New England
Colonists, the love of peace and order in connection with respect for
the rights of others. I mention these together, because charges
have often been preferred against them, which, to me, seem to be
imjust and unwarranted by the facts. They manifested no disposi-
tion to force their opinions upon others, or to infringe upon the rights
«»f any. They would not separate from the Church of England. —
They sought only its reform in matters of practice. And even
this they did not seek in an illiberal spirit or uncharitable manner.
John Robinson, in his last charge, advised them " by all means to
endeavour to close with the godly party of the kingdom of England,
and rather to • study union than division, namely how near we
might possibly, without sin, close with them, than in the least
measure to affect division or separation from them." Winslow tes-
tifies that John Robinson " professed and held communion both with
the French and Dutch Churches, yea tendered it even to the Scotch
also." While they claimed toleration and the right of private
judgment, they were willing that others should enjoy the same priv-
ileges. They removed from Amsterdam to Leyden that they
might not be the occasion of disturbance to the brethren whom they
found in the former city. No charge of bigotry or intolerance can
be sustained against them in aught that they said or did previous

!>,;

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to their settlement in New England. It will soon appear that this
may also be said of them in their after course.

Their dealings with the Indians were on the whole praiseworthy,
considering the sentiments then prevalent and the course pursued
l)y some of the other Colonists of America. They not only obtained
grants from the English government, but they were ever mindful of
the rights of tlie Indians : while they restrained their ferocity and
cliecked their aggressions, they endeavoured upon every occasion to
protect them in their just dues and privileges. It is matter of the
most familiar history, that previous to the arrival of the Mayflower
at Plymouth, the whole country, bordering upon the coast and ex-
tending far inland, had been desolated by a pestilence, so that it
was nearly if not quite depopulated. It was about two weeks after
their first landing at Cape Cod before the Pilgrims met with Sam-
osit — the first native that appeared. He informed them that four
years before their arrival, all the Indians of that vicinity had died
of an extraordinary disease, so that there was "neither man nor

woman, nor child remaining."

On the 22nd day of March, 1&21, Maa-saa-soit — the ruler of all
the nations in that vicinity — came with sixty armed men to Ply-
mouth. With him the Pilgrims made a treaty, consisting of six
articles, which was kept with good faith on both sides during the
chiefs life, and for twenty years afterwards. For more than half a
century after the arrival of the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and their
descendants lived in peace and friendship with the natives, undis-
turbed by outbreaks or lawless aggressions. Canonicus, chief of
the Narraganaasetts, early manifested jealousy of them and laid
plans for their destruction ; but these were frustrated by the other
Indians. Until after Phillip's war, the settlers of Plymouth never
claimed nor obtained any lands belongmg to the Indians by violence
or conquest. Their titles were all derived by deeds and grants from
the natives. This was likewise true of the first settlers in Connec-
ticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The first Colonists dealt
honestly and kindly with these sons of the forest, seekmg to unite

them in friendship to themselves and to each other. One instance
may suffice to show their mode of dealing where the Indians were
concerned. During a time of severe famine a quantity of com was
found in a cave. Before it was used, a diligent but useless search
was made for the owner. Months afterwards he was discovered,
and paid three-fold. Whatever may be said of the other or later
settlers of this continent, the Forefathers of New England at least
dealt honestly by the Red Man.

It has ever seemed to me that the common representation of the
course of the Colonists towards Roger Williams and the Quaker is
not the most correct one. It is by these that the charge of bif o, ^
and intolerance is mainly sought to be sustained.

To obtain correct views on this, you must remember the
Pilgrims did not cross the Atlantic to form a settlement where
men of all shades of opinion should be tolerated. They came for the
express purpose and with the avowed intention of forming a sepa-
rate organization, a community of their own, to be governed by their
well-known principles. The grants gave them an exclusive title to
the lands which they were to occupy, with an uncontrolled right to
establish laws for its government. They owned all that tract of
country lying east of the present State of Rhode Island and soutli
of Massachusetts, which was at first bounded by Charles River and
the Merrimac. Within these limits they had absolute dominion.
To this spot they invited none except those who thought as they did
upon law and religion. Hence Plymouth early passed laws pro-
hibiting persons from settling within her bounds without a licerse from
the magistrates. They sought to keep out the elements of discord
by excluding those who were likely to introduce them. They had
braved many dangers to obtain a quiet home. They were certainly
justified in seeking by all lawful means to preserve it.

Roger Williams* was banished in 1635, after a residence of five

• See Palfrey's Hist, of N. E., vol.i., p. 405-425, where the various authorities
are given in full. This is confessedly the best and only thorough history of
New England.

•^ 'i

years in the Colony, not for his religious opinions, but because he
was opposing the principles on which the Colony was founded and
sowing discord among the settlers. " Our fathers," says John
Quincy Adams, " turned Mr. Williams out of doors, because he was
tearing their house to pieces." Dr. Worcester says, " Roger Wil-
liams was not banished for being a baptist ; for he never was a
baptist in Massachusetts." I desire to speak charitably of Roger
Williams. lie, doubtless, had more correct views than his compeers
of the connection that ought to exist between church and state ; but
he was a partizan with very little fixedness of principle. Bradford
says he was " a man godly and zealous, having many precious parts,
but vciy unsettled in his judgment." lie insisted that the brethren
in Boston should declare their repentance for having communed
with the Church of England before they left that country. He
openly taught that no one should pray with an impenitent person, —
not even though it should be his own wife or child or parent. He
proclaimed that oaths should not be administered to those who were
not members of churches ; thus virtually excluding such persons
from office, and also obstructing the Avhole course of justice. He
insisted that the title of the Colony to its lands was not good, and
openly preached against it. All this is well authenticated. Being
Avamed not to assert these dangerous opinions publicly, he set the
authorities at open defiance. Then the sentence of banishment was
passed upon him in October, with the understanding that it would
not be enforced until spring, provided he remained quiet, which his
restless disposition would not permit him to do. He therefore fled
to Rhode Island to escape being sent back to England. In all this,
it seems to me, the Fathers dealt not only lawfully and prudently,
but tenderly even with the founder of Rhode Island. If it had been
in England, he would have been whipped at the market place and
then cast into prison.

The Quakers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were no
more hke the gentle, law-abiding Friends of the present, than the
latter are like the Mormons. The former were ranters and fanatics,

disturbers of public peace and decency. They were in the habit of
entering the churches — " steeple houses," as they called them, —
during the time of service for the purpose of insulting the ministers
and disturbing the worship. An old writer says, " They invaded
public places, uttering their wild exhortations and foaming forth
their mad opinions, like persons possessed ; disturbing also the
relations of private life, and meddling everywhere with matters
beyond the pale of propriety or even common decency." It was,
doubtless, against such disturbers of the peace as these that the
often-blamed laws of the colonies were directed. A careful exami-
nation of the facts respecting the persons punished, will, I think,
show that the Fathers of New England, instead of being bigoted or
intolerant, were only the strict supporters of order and good morals.
Doubtless, some of their laws were stern, and often enforced with
what would now be regarded as unnecessary severity. But that
was true of all the go/emments of that period. We claim only that
the laws established and enforced by the early Colonists were milder
and more moderate than those then executed in Europe. Their
most unjustifiable laws against witchcraft were simply copies from
the Statute Book of England. And even this law was a dead letter
in the Colonies ever after 1676, while in Britain witches were
punished as late as 1725. The moderation of the Fathers appears
in striking contrast with the intolerance which then prevailed in
every country of Europe — Holland alone excepted. They were
human, and therefore imperfect, as they themselves were ever most
ready to confess. They lived in circumstances of peculiar diflSculty,
yet they let their moderation, their intelligence, and their piety
appear in everything. They were so simple minded and unambitious
that the Colony of Plymouth found it necessary to enact a law
imposing a fine of twenty pounds sterling upon whomsoever, on being
elected, should refuse to serve as governor. They desired only to
live in peace, in the free exercise of what they justly regarded as
high privileges, and in earnest efibrts to honor the Great Being,
whose smile of approval was their most coveted reward. They

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hated nothing so much as intolerance, and feared only God's dis-
pleasure. Take them altogether, there is hardly anything to be
excused, while there is much that is worthy of imitation and praise.
They left their children the nohlo heritage of a good name and a
virtuous example, as well as a goodly country ami free institutions.
Their heroic, self sacrificing virtues ought to be, and will be held
in everlasting remembrance. They acted fully up to the light
which they possessed, while they eagerly sought for more.

It 18 true, brethren of the New England Society, your ancestors
were noble men, animated by lofty principles, and engaged in a holy
cause. The contest in which they wore out their lives was begun
on Calvary. It was a contest between light and darkness, freedom
and despotism. In that struggle they nobly fought, and more nobly
suffered, even while gaining most decided advantages. But, gen-
tlemen, they were not permitted to end the struggle. The contest
has been proceeding ever since ; it is still continued ; and now it
rages more fiercely than ever. Many victories have been gained
during these two centuries ; the battle field is now greatly enlarged,
and every day becoming larger. New and more definite issues are
being made, and new peoples enlisted in the conflict. But the
contest is the same; — darkness and despotism on the one side, light
and liberty on the other. The Forefathers of New England ranged
themselves under the banner of light and liberty: that banner,
never dishonoured by themselves, they bequeathed to their descen-
dants to be honourably carried forward to victory. A holy trust !
and one which the children have nobly kept, so that to-day no
despot rules, and no slave clanks his chains in New England.
Nobly are the children treading in the Fathers' footsteps. Long
ago they penetrated to the mighty West, carrying knowledge and
liberty with them. They secured the freedom of Kansas. They
have imbued all those noble Western States with a mighty spirit of
liberty that must prevail. Even now they are settling in Western
Virginia. Armed only with the Bible and an all conquering spirit
of love, they still pursue the Pilgrims' path. Gentlemen, the con-

test may be long ; but while the . -^ns of Now England wield the
Pilgrims' weapons, success will attend them. The Forefathers' God
"Virill yet, in answer to the childrens' prayers, deliver the confederacy
from its every danger, — including that of slavery. The Divine
blessing is pledged to them for thousands of generations : the higher
law insures their success so long as moderation and love direct their
counsels and animate their efforts. I am well assured that the
warm heart and prudent intellect of New England are both truly
enlisted in this contest, whether waged in her own, or in other
countries. Her children have gone to all quarters of the earth as
the heralds of light and the messengers of salvation. She watches
eagerly the heroic efforts of Old England, who, engaged in the same
contest, is ranged on the same side as herself. She loves Old
England for the Fathers' sake, as well as for her noble principles ;
should the despots, now arming, dare to invade the land of the Pil-
grims' birth, there are thousands of the Pilgrims' children ready to
cross the Atlantic, as their Fathers did, in behalf of the right. Old
England and New England are one in heart and one in effort for
God and light and liberty. Certain I am, that the men of New
England, resident in Montreal, will, on this day especially, heartily
unite in the prayer with which I conclude : Thus may it ever be,
till the Pilgrims' principles shall fill the world and govern our race !
And peace and love and friendship reign through all the earth !

» Our Fathers' God I to Thee,
Author of liberty I

To Thee we turn ;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom's holy light ;
Protect U3 by thy might,

Great God, our King I