His Excellency ROGER WOLCOTT, _Governor of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, in the United States of America_.
_To the Registrar of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London._
_Whereas_, The said Honorable Court, by its decree dated the twelfth day
of April, 1897, 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, 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, 1897, 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.