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happy community are the immutable principles of duty to God and faith in man's capability to do right. And we are sitting at the base of Watson's Hill. Memorable it is; for there Massasoit, the chief who had till then looked over this whole domain, lord of all he surveyed, came to proffer his friendship to the white man.

Just behind us is the spot where Winslow, undaunted, courageous, because true, went up to meet the savage chief. What an interview was that! No subsequent negotiations between nations can equal it. The destinies of a world were there. The seal of the compact was this: "a pair of knives and a copper chain with a jewel at it." Then the white man and the Indian were friends. The tomahawk was buried; hostilities ceased.

Winslow and Massasoit on Watson's Hill! Let the picture be familiar to us. Look long and steadily upon it. That interview saved the colony in its infancy, and therefore it has grown into manhood. We have crossed the Town Brook, where our fathers found good water, and for that reason they concluded to settle there. I have heard of a striking incident, occurring within a few weeks, respecting that water. A stranger came into a store in this town, and asked for a phial. When he received it, he could not help telling what he wanted it for; and that he might tell, he asked the person who gave it to him if he knew what he was about to do with it. The person of course did not. The man said he was going to fill it with water from that spring, and he should

take it as a sacred relic five hundred miles from here.

And here, wherein I have been sitting, is the chair of that Governor Winslow. It came with him in the Mayflower, and has been with his immediate descendants till now. Who can imagine, as he sat in it, what thoughts of the past came to him, of a home and friends he had left behind, friends from whom he had but lately parted, whom he should never meet again on earth; and these thoughts mingled with hopes and fears of a future, of short or long duration, to be passed in a distant and unknown land. Methinks he sat there calm in the presence and protection of his God, without fear. The waves around him might be boisterous, the winds might rage and toss the frail bark, but he was sustained by faith in Him who said to the winds and waves, "Be still."

But I refrain; I welcome you to this day, and you, gentlemen, who have come up at our invitation, I welcome you in the name of the Pilgrim Society. In behalf of the town I welcome you. In your walk to-day you have seen the arches which manly enterprise and energy have erected for you to pass under, and you have everywhere seen how the fair hands of fairer woman have decorated the town to give you a generous welcome. We have come up from the north, the south, the east, and the west, irrespective of party, abandoning for the time all political distinctions, having no peculiar opinions, knowing only that we are brethren and sisters of our dear America,

descendants from a noble ancestry of the good and truly great. May the influences of this day go with all of us, to give power to our hands and our hearts for the right, to build up commonwealths after the model of our Pilgrim Fathers. I will close with the sentiment,

Our Country. Founded on the principles of the Pilgrim Fathers, like the rock on which they landed, it shall stand a beacon to the world.

Before taking his seat, the President read the following letter from the Hon. Moses H. Grinnell, which was followed by enthusiastic applause :

MY DEAR SIR:

New York, July 28, 1853.

I have been waiting and hoping that I could answer your kind invitation in the affirmative, but I cannot; therefore shall have to deny myself the very great pleasure I should derive at being present on so interesting an occasion.

Mr. Draper, with quite a numerous delegation, will join you, and I believe the Light Guard are to accompany them.

I will do my part towards the erection of the monument. I hope the right spirit will be manifested, and that a large sum may be realized.

Wishing you a very pleasant time, I am very truly yours, MOSES H. GRINNELL. P. S. Can't you find fifty persons who will go a thousand dollars each? I will be one of them.

The President stated that the sum of $6,000 had been subscribed by the citizens of Plymouth for the erection of a monument on the rock on which the Pilgrims landed, which announcement was also favorably received.

The President then gave, as the next toast,

The President of the United States.

Band," Hail to the Chief!"

The President here said:" And now, gentlemen and ladies, I can assure you I have got through with the worst part of this day's proceedings. And it now becomes my duty to introduce you to others. We love Massachusetts, - we love every State in the Union. We have visitors from nearly every State from Maine to Alabama, who have come up to join with us in these festivities. Our honored State is ably represented by a Governor who is one of us. I give you as a sentiment,

"Massachusetts and the Old Colony, - The division line is obliterated, and Massachusetts has added another honored name to the list of Old Colony Governors."

GOVERNOR CLIFFORD of Massachusetts was introduced to the assembly, and stood up to respond to the toast, amid loud cheers and manifestations of respect. He said :

MR. PRESIDENT, - If I anticipated any thing in coming here to-day, it was that upon this spot and on this occasion there would be no departure from the honored usages of our Pilgrim Fathers. But, sir, to contrast my position here with that which the historical record assigns to the first Governor of Massachusetts upon a similar occasion, admonishes me that we have already begun to widen the diverging lines from the point of Plymouth Rock. That record is, that in 1632, when Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts Bay, made his first visit to the Old Colony, the Plymouth colonists assembled, and one Mr. .Roger Williams, a somewhat contentious, but most conscientiously contentious personage of that day,

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propounded a question." Not, I will venture to say, one of your congratulatory or complimentary toasts, but some good, hard, knotty point of theology, that had an application in it. After he had pro

pounded it, as the record goes on to say, the pastor briefly spoke to the question. Then Mr. Williams prophesied. Then the elders spoke; then the Governor of New Plymouth addressed the meeting. After him, several of the gifted among the congregation added words of exhortation; and then, but not till then, the Governor of Massachusetts was requested to speak, which he did.

The simple habits of our good forefathers did not tolerate a corps of reporters on that occasion, and we have no record of what the Governor of Massachusetts said.

That you should have reversed this order, sir, and in this presence, -for I have a predecessor here in one capacity, and the company will be glad to know he is soon to be my successor in another, (turning to Mr. Everett,)—that you should have reversed this order, and have called first upon me to address this glorious assemblage of the sons and daughters, not only of the colonies of New Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, but of the whole circle of independent sovereignties whose shields we see dotting every point of this vast pavilion, makes me feel that there was one enactment amongst the earliest acts of legislation of the colonists of New Plymouth that does not need to be reënacted now. It was, that "if any one, now or hereafter, shall be elected to the office of Governor, and doth not stand to the election, and hold and execute the office for his year," the Pilgrim precedent you see, sir, extended only to a single year, —“he should be amerced in twenty pounds

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