For the first time in my life, I have the good fortune to enjoy this
famous anniversary festival. Though often honored by your most tempting
invitation, and longing to celebrate the day in this goodly company,
of which all have heard so much, I could never excuse myself from
duties in another place. If now I yield to well-known attractions,
and journey from Washington for my first holiday during a protracted
public service, it is because all was enhanced by the appeal of your
excellent President, to whom I am bound by the friendship of many
years in Boston, New York, and in a foreign land. (_Applause._) It is
much to be a brother of New England, but it is more to be a friend
(_applause_); and this tie I have pleasure in confessing to-night.
It is with much doubt and humility that I venture to answer for the
Senate of the United States, and I believe the least I say on this head
will be the most prudent. (_Laughter._) But I shall be entirely safe
in expressing my doubt if there is a single Senator who would not be
glad of a seat at this generous banquet. What is the Senate? It is a
component part of the National Government. But we celebrate to-day more
than any component part of any government. We celebrate an epoch in
the history of mankind,--not only never to be forgotten, but to grow
in grandeur as the world appreciates the elements of true greatness.
Of mankind, I say: for the landing on Plymouth Rock, on the 22d of
December, 1620, marks the origin of a new order of ages, by which the
whole human family will be elevated. Then and there was the great
beginning.
Throughout all time, from the dawn of history, men have swarmed to
found new homes in distant lands. The Tyrians, skirting Northern
Africa, stopped at Carthage; Carthaginians dotted Spain, and even the
distant coasts of Britain and Ireland; Greeks gemmed Italy and Sicily
with Art-loving settlements; Rome carried multitudinous colonies with
her conquering eagles. Saxons, Danes, and Normans violently mingled
with the original Britons. And in more modern times Venice, Genoa,
Portugal, Spain, France, and England, all sent forth emigrants to
people foreign shores. But in these various expeditions trade or war
was the impelling motive. Too often commerce and conquest moved hand in
hand, and the colony was incarnadined with blood.
On the day we celebrate, the sun for the first time in his course
looked down upon a different scene, begun and continued under a
different inspiration. A few conscientious Englishmen, in obedience
to the monitor within, and that they might be free to worship God
according to their own sense of duty, set sail for the unknown wilds
of the North American continent. After a voyage of sixty-four days in
the ship Mayflower, with Liberty at the prow and Conscience at the
helm, (_applause_,) they sighted the white sand-banks of Cape Cod, and
soon thereafter in the small cabin framed that brief compact, forever
memorable, which is the first written constitution of government in
human history, and the very corner-stone of the American Republic; and
then these Pilgrims landed.
This compact was not only foremost in time, it was also august in
character, and worthy of perpetual example. Never before had the object
of the “civil body politic” been announced as “to enact, constitute,
and frame such _just and equal laws_, ordinances, acts, constitutions,
and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and
convenient for the general good of the Colony.”[231] How lofty! how
true! Undoubtedly these were the grandest words of government, with the
largest promise, of any at that time uttered.
If more were needed to illustrate the new epoch, it would be found in
the parting words of the venerable pastor, John Robinson, addressed
to the Pilgrims, as they were about to sail from Delft-Haven,--words
often quoted, yet never enough. How sweetly and beautifully he says:
“And if God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of
His, be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth
by my ministry; for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and
light yet to break forth out of His Holy Word.” And then how justly the
good preacher rebukes those who close their souls to truth! “As, for
example, the Lutherans, they cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther
saw,--for, whatever part of God’s will He hath further imparted and
revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it; and so also
you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them,--a misery much
to be lamented; for, though they were precious shining lights in their
times, yet God had not revealed His whole will to them.”[232] Beyond
the merited rebuke, here is a plain recognition of the law of Human
Progress, little discerned at the time, which teaches the sure advance
of the Human Family, and opens the vista of the ever-broadening,
never-ending future on earth.
Our Pilgrims were few and poor. The whole outfit of this historic
voyage, including £1,700 of trading-stock, was only £2,400;[233]
and how little was required for their succor appears in the
experience of the soldier Captain Miles Standish, who, being sent
to England for assistance,--not military, but financial (God save
the mark!),--succeeded in borrowing (how much do you suppose?) £150
sterling. (_Laughter._) Something in the way of help; and the historian
adds, “though at fifty per cent” interest.[234] So much for a valiant
soldier on a financial expedition. (_Laughter, in which General Sherman
and the company joined._) A later agent, Allerton, was able to borrow
for the Colony £200 at a reduced interest of thirty per cent.[235]
Plainly, the money-sharks of our day may trace an undoubted pedigree
to these London merchants. (_Laughter._) But I know not if any son of
New England, oppressed by exorbitant interest, will be consoled by the
thought that the Pilgrims paid the same.
And yet this small people,--so obscure and outcast in condition,--so
slender in numbers and in means,--so entirely unknown to the proud and
great,--so absolutely without name in contemporary records,--whose
departure from the Old World took little more than the breath of
their bodies,--are now illustrious beyond the lot of men; and the
Mayflower is immortal beyond the Grecian Argo, or the stately ship
of any victorious admiral. Though this was little foreseen in their
day, it is plain now how it has come to pass. The highest greatness,
surviving time and storm, is that which proceeds from the soul of
man. (_Applause._) Monarchs and cabinets, generals and admirals, with
the pomp of courts and the circumstance of war, in the gradual lapse
of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers of Truth, though poor
and lowly, especially those whose example elevates human nature and
teaches the rights of man, so that Government of the people, by the
people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth (_great
applause_),--such harbingers can never be forgotten, and their renown
spreads coëxtensive with the cause they served.
I know not if any whom I now have the honor of addressing have thought
to recall the great in rank and power filling the gaze of the world as
the Mayflower with her company fared forth on their venturous voyage.
The foolish James was yet on the English throne, glorying that he
had “soundly peppered off the Puritans.”[236] The morose Louis the
Thirteenth, through whom Richelieu ruled, was King of France. The
imbecile Philip the Third swayed Spain and the Indies. The persecuting
Ferdinand the Second, tormentor of Protestants, was Emperor of Germany.
Paul the Fifth, of the House of Borghese, was Pope of Rome. In the
same princely company, and all contemporaries, were Christian the
Fourth, King of Denmark, and his son Christian, Prince of Norway;
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden; Sigismund the Third, King of Poland;
Frederick, King of Bohemia, with his wife, the unhappy Elizabeth of
England, progenitor of the House of Hanover; George William, Margrave
of Brandenburg, and ancestor of the Prussian house that has given an
emperor to Germany; Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria; Maurice, Landgrave
of Hesse; Christian, Duke of Brunswick and Luneburg; John Frederick,
Duke of Würtemberg and Teck; John, Count of Nassau; Henry, Duke of
Lorraine; Albert, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Isabella, Infanta
of Spain, joint rulers of the Low Countries; Maurice, fourth Prince
of Orange, of the House of Nassau; Charles Emanuel, Duke of Savoy,
and ancestor of the King of United Italy; Cosmo de’ Medici, fourth
Grand Duke of Tuscany; Antonio Priuli, ninety-fifth Doge of Venice,
just after the terrible tragedy commemorated on the English stage as
“Venice Preserved”; Bethlen Gabor, Prince of Unitarian Transylvania,
and elected King of Hungary with the countenance of an African; and the
Sultan Osman the Second, of Constantinople, eighteenth ruler of the
Turks.
Such at that time were the crowned sovereigns of Europe, whose names
were mentioned always with awe, and whose countenances are handed down
by Art, so that at this day they are visible to the curious as if they
walked these streets. Mark now the contrast. There was no artist for
our forefathers, nor are their countenances now known to men; but more
than any powerful contemporaries at whose tread the earth trembled
is their memory sacred. (_Applause._) Pope, emperor, king, sultan,
grand-duke, duke, doge, margrave, landgrave, count,--what are they all
by the side of the humble company that landed on Plymouth Rock? Theirs,
indeed, were the ensigns of worldly power; but our Pilgrims had in
themselves that inborn virtue which was more than all else besides, and
their landing was an epoch.
Who in the imposing troop of worldly grandeur is now remembered but
with indifference or contempt? If I except Gustavus Adolphus, it is
because he revealed a superior character. Confront the Mayflower and
the Pilgrims with the potentates who occupied such space in the world.
The former are ascending into the firmament, there to shine forever,
while the latter have been long dropping into the darkness of oblivion,
to be brought forth only to point a moral or to illustrate the fame
of contemporaries whom they regarded not. (_Applause._) Do I err in
supposing this an illustration of the supremacy which belongs to the
triumphs of the moral nature? At first impeded or postponed, they
at last prevail. Theirs is a brightness which, breaking through all
clouds, will shine forth with ever-increasing splendor.
I have often thought, that if I were a preacher, if I had the honor to
occupy the pulpit so grandly filled by my friend near me, (_gracefully
inclining toward Mr. Beecher_,) one of my sermons should be from the
text, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”[237] Nor do I know a
better illustration of these words than the influence exerted by our
Pilgrims. That small band, with the lesson of self-sacrifice, of just
and equal laws, of the government of a majority, of unshrinking loyalty
to principle, is now leavening this whole continent, and in the fulness
of time will leaven the world. (_Great applause._) By their example
republican institutions have been commended; and in proportion as we
imitate them will these institutions be assured. (_Applause._)
Liberty, which we so much covet, is not a solitary plant. Always by its
side is Justice. (_Applause._) Yet Justice is nothing but Right applied
to human affairs. Do not forget, I entreat you, that with the highest
morality is the highest liberty. A great poet, in one of his inspired
sonnets, speaking of this priceless possession, has said,
“For who loves that must first be wise and good.”[238]
Therefore do the Pilgrims in their beautiful example teach liberty,
teach republican institutions,--as at an earlier day Socrates and
Plato, in their lessons of wisdom, taught liberty and helped the idea
of the republic. If republican government has thus far failed in any
experiment, as, perhaps, somewhere in Spanish America, it is because
these lessons have been wanting; there have been no Pilgrims to teach
the Moral Law.
Mr. President, with these thoughts, which I imperfectly express, I
confess my obligations to the forefathers of New England, and offer
to them the homage of a grateful heart. But not in thanksgiving only
would I celebrate their memory. I would, if I could, make their example
a universal lesson, and stamp it upon the land. (_Applause._) The
conscience which directed them should be the guide for our public
councils; the just and equal laws which they required should be
ordained by us; and the hospitality to Truth which was their rule
should be ours. Nor would I forget their courage and steadfastness. Had
they turned back or wavered, I know not what would have been the record
of this continent, but I see clearly that a great example would have
been lost. (_Applause._) Had Columbus yielded to his mutinous crew and
returned to Spain without his great discovery, had Washington shrunk
away disheartened by British power and the snows of New Jersey, these
great instances would have been wanting for the encouragement of men.
But our Pilgrims belong to the same heroic company, and their example
is not less precious. (_Applause._)
Only a short time after the landing on Plymouth Rock, the great
republican poet, John Milton, wrote his “Comus,” so wonderful for
beauty and truth. His nature was more refined than that of the
Pilgrims; and yet it requires little effort of imagination to catch
from one of them, or at least from their beloved pastor, the exquisite,
almost angelic words at the close:--
“Mortals, that would follow me,
Love Virtue: she alone is free;
She can teach ye how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime:
Or if Virtue feeble were,
Heaven itself would stoop to her.”
“At the conclusion of Senator Sumner’s speech,” says the report,
“the audience rose and gave cheer upon cheer.”