SIR: Tremont House, July 26, 1853. I much regret that arrangements which it is beyond my power to alter will take my party and myself from Boston before the 1st of August. The meeting of the Pilgrim Society is one which, with reference alike to its subject and to the character and eminence of those likely to attend, I should have felt myself much honored by being permitted to assist at. I have the honor to be, Sir, your very faithful servant, DEAR SIR: EGERTON ELLESMERE. Washington, July 26, 1853. I thank you sincerely for your invitation to me to attend the Celebration of the Pilgrim Society on the 1st proximo, and I very greatly regret that my official engagements render it impossible for me to be present with you on so interesting an occasion. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Chairman. DEAR SIR: C. CUSHING. Lowell, July 26, 1853. I received yesterday your favor of the 23d, conveying to me an invitation from the Committee of Arrangements to be present at the Celebration of the Pilgrim Society on the 1st of August. Under fitting circumstances, I should have felt extremely happy in being present at the Anniversary of the Embarkation of the Pilgrims; but a recent affliction will allow me only to offer my sincere acknowledgment for the honor done me, and my best wishes that the celebration may serve to perpetuate the principles of the "Fathers of New England." Respectfully, your obedient servant, TAPPAN WENTWORTH. RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Plymouth. DEAR SIR: Gardiner, Me., July 26, 1853. I have omitted hitherto to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging favor of the 7th instant, in the hope that I might be able to accept the obliging invitation with which you have honored me, to attend the proposed Celebration at Plymouth on Monday next. It is now quite certain that it will not be in my power to do so. Few things could afford me more pleasure than to unite with the distinguished citizens of New England who will then assemble, in commemorating the services, the sacrifices, and the virtues of those heroic and Christian men who laid so deep and sure the enduring foundations of all our civil and religious institutions. For ever honored be their memory, for ever cherished be their principles. I beg you and the Committee to receive my grateful acknowledgments for the honor of the invitation, and believe me to be, with great respect, your obliged and obedient servant, RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Plymouth. GEO. EVANS. Sunnyside, July 27, 1853. DEAR SIR: The invitation with which I have been honored by the Committee of Arrangements of the Pilgrim Society, to attend their approaching commemoration, has just been received. While I feel deeply and gratefully this mark of their consideration, I regret that the state of my health, which obliges me to repair to Saratoga, will prevent my being present on the very interesting occasion. I remain, dear sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WASHINGTON IRVING. RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Chairman, &c. GENTLEMEN: Cincinnati, July 28, 1853. Having been informed by the Hon. Bellamy Storer, that you have been pleased to honor the New England Society of Cincinnati by an invitation to our President and Board of Directors to be present on the deeply interesting occasion of your annual celebration of the day, so dear in the memory of every New-Englander and every true American, it devolves on me as their Secretary to acknowledge your courtesy, and to inform you, that in the absence of most of the members of our board, now visiting their early New England homes, I have forwarded your invitation to our President, Robert Hosea, formerly of Boston, and our Vice-President, John Swasey, formerly of Salem, Massachusetts, who are among the most enterprising merchants of the "Queen City of the West," through whom, we trust, our Society will be truly represented on the patriotic day we all would rejoice to commemorate by our presence among sons and daughters so worthy of their fathers. Allow me to propose, for the New-Englanders of the Buckeye State: "The true sons of New England's worthy sires can never forget their native homes, so sacred to the memory of their ancestors." Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Corresponding Secretary of the New England TO THE COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS, &c. DEAR SIR: Amherst, July 29, 1853. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be able to accept the invitation of the Pilgrim Society to participate in the commemoration of the Anniversary of the Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven, on the 1st of August, 1620, and to express my veneration of the men, whom the providence of God directed to this New World, and inspired with energy and wisdom and foresight to lay the foundations of a structure, which for the strength and beauty and grandeur of its proportions, in a moral, social, and political view, has even now exceeded the highest con ceptions of their warmest imagination, and which, under the guidance of that same Providence, is exerting an influence unparalleled in the history of the world upon the material and moral interests of our race. But I may not enjoy that pleasure. Accept my thanks for your kindness, and permit me to annex a sentiment: "The Embarkation of the Pilgrims in 1620,- The dawn of a new era in the advancement of civilization, the knowledge of true liberty, and the spread of a pure Christianity throughout the world." Believe me, very truly and cordially yours, EDWARD DICKINSON. RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Chairman of Committee, &c. West Point, July 30, 1853. MY DEAR SIR: I have just received your communication of the 28th instant, inviting me to participate in the commemoration of the "Embarkation of the Pilgrims," which is to take place at Plymouth on the 1st of August. I regret, my dear sir, that I had not known of it a day or two earlier, as I have just returned from Trinity College Commencement at Hartford, and from lack of time must relinquish the pleasure of joining with you in preserving the memory of this important act of the Pilgrims. To me the event would have been peculiarly gratifying, and also would have afforded me an opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with many who were very kind to me on my visit in search of information and material for the painting now in the Rotundo. I beg you, my dear sir, to present my sincere regrets to the Pilgrim Society, and also my hearty wishes for its welfare, and the success of the object it has in view. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, TO RICHARD WARREN, ESQ. ROBERT W. Weir. DEAR SIR: Washington, July 27, 1853. It is announced in the papers that the New England Society of Boston, and others, are to celebrate the Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Holland, on the 1st of August. This notice is recent, and hardly leaves time for any appropriate action of our New England Society of the Metropolis, to meet and provide for an official representation, on that interesting occasion; but as the Rev. Ashbel Steele, one of the descendants of the Puritans, now of this city, is about to go to Plymouth, and to be present at the ceremonies of that day, I think he may with propriety represent this branch of the great New England Association which is scattered abroad over our land. May I ask the favor of you to present Mr. Steele to the President of the parent Society, in that assumed representative character. Mr. S. has been some time engaged in collecting and elaborating materials for a fuller memoir of Elder Brewster than has yet appeared, being led to the work from the fact that his wife is a lineal descendant of the sturdy old Puritan hero. I do not know who the President of the Society is, in Boston or Plymouth, or I should have thought it proper to address this note to him; but I trust you will excuse the form it takes, and enable Mr. S. to present himself in the right quarter. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, D. A. HALL, President (perhaps Ex-President, of the New England Society of Washington. TO THE HON. EDWARD EVERETT. DEAR SIR: Madison City, Wisconsin, 21 July, 1853. I have just received the letter by which, on behalf of the Committee of Arrangements of the Pilgrim Society, you invite me to take part in the ceremony commemorative of the embarkation at Delft Haven of the founders of Plymouth Colony; and in which, while alluding to my researches in regard to the Pilgrims in Holland, you do me the honor to say, that the Society is desirous to hear more of these men from me. |