I regret that I cannot be in Plymouth on the 1st of August; it would be most grateful to my feelings to meet those assembled to do honor to men who gave up the comforts of home rather than sacrifice a principle; - it would be pleasant, with them, to retrace the wanderings of the Pilgrims, and from the Rock of Plymouth go back in imagination to the little church of Austerfeld, under the shadow of which the first Governor of Plymouth was born, and before the unchanged altar-table of which he was baptized.

Since the publication to which you refer, I have twice revisited Leyden and Delft Haven, and added something to the small stock of facts before gleaned. Among other new documents, I have in my possession a letter, written by John Robinson to the magistrates of Leyden, dated Amsterdam, 12 February, 1609, asking permission to come during the ensuing month of May with his congregation of one hundred English men and women to reside in that city. This letter gives us light upon two points heretofore unsettled; first, the time of Robinson's migration to Leyden, supposed by some to have been in 1608; and secondly, the number of those who had joined him in exile.

Other documents throw light upon other matters, but nothing changes the conviction, heretofore expressed, that the position of the Pilgrims in Holland was one of suffering and privation, of continued persecution on the part of the English Government, unalleviated by any sympathy from those more favored English, who, in Amsterdam and in Leyden, had received churches from the magistrates.

The records of the English Reformed Church at Amsterdam, in which the forerunners of Robinson and some of his own congregation became in the end merged, the records of this church, as far back as 1608, speak of the Brownists, who were then coming there, as "writhers of libels and of scandalous articles "; and again, travelling out of their record, they chronicle with unconcealed pleasure a mishap which befell the unfortunate exiles. It seems that these forerunners of Robinson had raised money to build a church in Amsterdam, and the English record, after mentioning this, continues: "The before said Brownists' preachinghouse (as they call it) being half reddy, God sent his strong

messengers from Heaven and cast it flat down unto the ground; which to many was a saying and a teaching that they did not build upon the Rocke, the sure and right foundation. Mat. vii. 24; 1 Cor. iii. 14."

"Retrospection," says an old writer, " is precious, inasmuch as it giveth us wise teachings for the present." And when we look back upon the lowly and humble position of the fathers of our Republic, persecuted for opinion's sake, arrested in England, — imperfectly protected abroad, spurned by their fellow-countrymen there whom fortune favored, are we not taught lessons of charity towards those who differ from us? Are we not also taught that we dishonor the Pilgrims, when we forget to honor either labor, or devotion to principle?

The Pilgrims, I have said, were imperfectly protected in Holland. No government has been more unscrupulous than that of England in violating the neutrality of other countries, and in seeking to carry its own persecutions into other lands. It was in vain that one of the brightest luminaries of English science, John Locke, sought refuge in Holland; he was hunted down by English spies and diplomatists, and obliged to fly. So was it with our own Elder Brewster. Let us not, however, cavil with the Dutch. They did more than any other nation had then done to protect freedom of opinion. Holland and Switzerland were the two asylums of those who were persecuted for their convictions, and, without the rallying-point of Holland, it is probable that Robinson's congregation would have been dispersed; and Miles Standish and Winslow and Winthrop, and the other bright names of Plymouth Colony and of Massachusetts history, be known only as actors of more or less renown in the drama of the English Commonwealth.

We cannot fix limits to our debt of gratitude to the Dutch Republic, for the asylum and the protection she afforded. How can we better show that gratitude than by expressing on the Rock of Plymouth the sympathy of the sons of the Pilgrims for that other Republic, Switzerland, now "persecuted even unto death," menaced with the extinction of her nationality, for extending the same hospitality, for fulfilling the same duty, towards others, who, for conscience' sake, have become pilgrims and exiles.

Mindful of the parallel between Switzerland in 1853, and Holland while sheltering the Pilgrims, permit me to propose as a sentiment :

"The Swiss Republic,- Menaced by despots for having exercised a right, fulfilled a duty, and practised a virtue, to be sustained by all for whom right, duty, and virtue are not empty names."

I have the honor to be, dear sir, your faithful servant, GEORGE SUMNER, HON. RICHARD WARREN, Chairman of Committee of Arrangements, &c.

MY DEAR SIR:

Washington, July 26, 1853.

I

very much regret that I am obliged to decline your invitation to be present at the commemoration of the anniversary departure of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven, on their adventurous voyage to a distant and unknown land, for the noble purpose of seeking shelter from persecution, and a home where civil and religious liberty could be enjoyed.

I regard the event you propose to celebrate as among the most interesting in the history of nations, both in its character and consequences. Were succeeding generations to be unmindful of the stern virtues and severe hardships of their Pilgrim forefathers, they would be unworthy of the blessed heritage which has come down to them from this source.

I

assure you I sincerely regret that any circumstances should deprive me of the pleasure of being present at the celebration of an event, so memorable in our national annals, and so worthy of being commemmorated through all succeeding time.

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
W. L. MARCY.

RICHARD WARREN, ESQ., Plymouth, Massachusetts.

MY DEAR SIR:

Lunenburg, 28 July, 1853.

The regret for losing the celebration of the embarking of our Plymouth Pilgrims at Delft Haven, two hundred and thirty-three

years ago, will be much alleviated to me, at least, by the knowledge that you will be there next Monday. As a member of the Pilgrim Society, I would heartily attend; and it seems almost strict duty for the Historical Society to reverence whatever inheres in the gentis incunabula nostræ, or even may be only an adjunct.

Having entered my seventieth year, I am lately become very penurious of my time, and as it would cost me four days to partake in the glory of that festivity, it must be given up. Yet only one hour later departure of the last train of cars in the forenoon of Monday would permit my reaching Boston seasonably from here. Still you can so much more acceptably fulfil my service, that I rejoice at the opportunity afforded for renewing your enjoyment in bestowing honor on the true-hearted exiles. You will not, I am sure, omit the occasion of rendering due acknowledgment to our friend, Rev. Joseph Hunter, who, more than all other persons since Governor Bradford, has illustrated the story of their origin. What none of them thought of, their condition before leaving England, we wanted most to know. In chief, the unrivalled merit of Brewster, earliest, as well as one of the best qualified, among the laics, of assertors of religious freedom. When one recurs to the wretchedness inflicted on her Secretary, Davison, by the perfidy (how well justified is that phrase !) of Queen Elizabeth, which even in the narrative of Hume is plain enough for an eye of tolerable power of inspection, he will see the cause that drove Brewster into seclusion from court, after qualifying him for all honorable service, if consistent with good conscience. Did you see a new Life of Davison come out within eight or ten years? It is monstrous, that two octavos should give us little more than two or three pages of novelty; and if the publication escaped your eye, it was ordered for the Boston Library, I remember, by my motion, when a fairer portion of the irradiation of Elizabeth's day was looked for.

To Brewster is due, beyond controversy, the glory of vindicating sober Puritanism, not as a clergyman bred up to controversy, still less as a man of the world who could see in no distant future the prevalence of his cause, the first LAYMAN who opened free communication with Heaven, without asking permission of his civil

sovereign. Our two Governors, Bradford and Winthrop, whose births occurred within a few days of each other, are both deserving of very great and nearly equal approbation as conscientious statesmen, thoroughly imbued with rational dislike of the formalities in church service, yet came into being only when Brewster had terminated his career of public service; and indeed all Bradford's accomplishments in human politics or divine letters he may well seem to have derived from such parental instruction.

You will know, my dear sir, how to excuse this outpouring, when you think that I have just laid down our latest volume, first of fourth series, that contains the full evidence of his devotion to our purposes by my friend Hunter. Remembering the fascination of Cavendish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey, which gave distinction to such a humble hamlet as Scrooby, I confess the perusal of this rewritten History of the Founders of New Plymouth quite as highly exhilarates me. I dare say that George Sumner may be at the feast, and he can give the freshest intelligence as to the modern state of that dovetailed canton of Yorkshire, Lincoln, and Notts. But agreeable as may be whatever he can tell, from a three days' visit to the neighborhood, the degree of general knowledge of the local concomitants must be far superior in my London friend, who was born and brought up in that vicinity.

Further I will not impose my tediousness on you, not even by inscribing a toast, or sentiment, as it is termed, if our Massachusetts Historical Society be honored by any mention; but leave to you, as our representative, all the service and the glory that would break down your assured friend.

HON. EDWARD EVERETT, Summer Street, Boston.

JAMES SAVAGE.

Delfshaven, in South Holland, Kingdom Netherlands,
July 18, 1853.

HON. AND WORTHY SIR, President of the Pilgrim Society, formed

to cherish the memory of the founders of New England, Burgomaster, Aldermen, and Councillors of the City of Delfshaven, have the honor to communicate you, they received your letter dated 23d June, 1853.