stroyed. Extermination is the only instrument, and exile the only remedy against variety of opinions. It remains for the patriot and the statesman, then, to consider whether an attempt to coerce uniformity in matters of religious faith, deserves another experiment; or rather, whether the remedy is not more dangerous than the disease.

The history of England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, presents a lesson for our instruction, which ought never to be forgotten. "I will," said James I., in his speech from the throne in 1604, "have but one doctrine-one discipline-one religion in substance and in ceremony." While the Puritans wished occasionally to assemble, and to enjoy the liberty of free discussion, James, anticipating that freedom in religion would tend to freedom in politics, reiterated his former speech. "La roi visera." The king alone will decide. "The hierarchy," said he, "is the firmest support of my throne. The Puritans I will make conform, or harry them out of the land." Such specimens of royal logic -such exhibitions of princely benevolence from "the father of his people," were not uncommon in that barbarous reign. The king prided himself on his skill in theological disputations; and though attached to the Protestant cause, derided and despised the Puritans. "He was, however, an awkward liar," as Hallam the historian observes, " rather than a crafty dissembler." Demonology was his favorite study. Upon this he wrote and published a book; and to illustrate its truth, "some helpless crone" must needs perish at stated intervals upon the gallows. He indulged, on one occasion, his egregious vanity in a public dispute; and when the argument was over, burned his opponent at the stake. "His marvellous learning" excited, among his courtiers, sometimes wonder and sometimes applause. "Your majesty," said a venerable archbishop, "speaks by the special assistance of God's Spirit." A bishop on his knees exclaimed, "that his heart melted for joy, because God had given England such a king, as since Christ's time had not been seen." In a foolish letter, (and there are many such extant,) the king boasted that "he had severely peppered off the Puritans."

It ought not then to excite surprise, that during the reign of such a prince, a war of opinion should have commenced; nor that the established authority should, for a few succeeding years, have obtained a temporary triumph; nor that the contest should have been transmitted down from one generation to another, till the mighty struggle between the people on the one hand, and the altar and the throne on the other, should have stained the latter with the blood of royalty.

Non-conformity being now made penal by law, and men of unimpeached and unimpeachable integrity having been selected as victims, and hanged at Tyburn for their opinions, many respectable Puritans abandoned England for ever. A religious society in Amsterdam, at this time served as a pivot of hope. Although Bacon, and many others, esteemed controversy as "the wind by which truth is winnowed," his opinions were in advance of the age, and unapproved by the nation.

Proclamations of great severity against non-conformists being issued, the contest for human freedom thenceforward commenced, and its dearest interests were put in issue.

A reformed society in the north of England, under the pastoral charge of the Rev. John Robinson, "a man not easily to be paralleled," "had joined themselves by a covenant into an independent church, in the fellowship of the gospel ;" and being watched by the hirelings of prelacy, and despairing of rest in England, resolved to seek safety in Holland. Escape from persecution being regarded as criminal, a retired heath in Lincolnshire, near the mouth of the Humber, was selected as a place of rendezvous. Previous to their departure, as the boat with a part only of their number left the shore, a company of horsemen appeared in view. Consternation filled every bosom. A few women and children left behind, were seized and confined, and afterward sent home. "But they had no home to go to"-" the magistrates, therefore, were at last glad to get rid of them on any terms;" and they were permitted, after "enduring misery enough," to join their husbands and fathers in Holland.

Pilgrims in a strange land, they lifted up their eyes to Heaven and were comforted. Arriving at Amsterdam in 1608, their trials began. From thence they removed in 1609 to Leyden, where being "careful to keep their word, and peaceful and diligent in their callings," they "grew in grace, and lived together in love and holiness."

The voyages of Columbus then recently published-the expeditions of Raleigh-and the compilations of sundry navigators before this, had filled the Continent with wonder; and “the Pilgrims," conscious of their ability to act a higher part in the great drama of humanity than was there allotted them, moved also by the hope, and an inward zeal, of advancing the Gospel of Christ in foreign lands, and being fearful that by remaining they should "scatter or sink," they, with entire unanimity, resolved on changing their abode.

Although they had been received with great kindness in Holland, the language of the Dutch was never familiar, and their manners were offensive. They lived, therefore, as men in exile. When they talked of removing, the Dutch insisted on their going to Guiana; and as inducements for going thither, made them the most kind and liberal offers. "The Pilgrims," however, were proud of their native land. Though persecuted at home, a deeply seated love of country remained. They were attached to their nationality as Englishmen ;" to the language of their fathers, and were "restless" to live once more under the government of England.* They, therefore, in December, 1617, transmitted a request to the London company, through John Carver and Robert Cushman, their agents, for permission to live in a distinct body by themselves, under the government of Virginia. In their request they say: "It is not

*A little spiritual pride, and some worldly ambition, it is supposed, had influence on their resolves. They were anxious, it is said by some, to extend the dominions of England as well as of their Redeemer.

with us as with men whom small things can discourage." They peti tioned also the king for leave to enjoy their religion in peace; but could obtain nothing more than an informal promise of neglect. On this, however, they relied, and in 1619 received a grant of land from the London company. The patent, however, was issued in the name of one who failed to accompany the expedition; and was, therefore, useless.

Another difficulty now stared them in the face. They were poor, and their means were unequal to so great an undertaking.

Their agents in Leyden thereupon formed a partnership with men of business in London, by which the services of each emigrant were estimated at ten pounds, and belonged to the company. The profits of their labor, at the end of seven years, and all houses and lands, flocks and herds, gardens and fields, were to be divided, by the terms of their contract, among the stockholders according to their respective interests. The London merchant who advanced a hundred pounds, consequently, would receive ten times the amount awarded to the penniless emigrant, for seven years' laborious service. But such was their zeal, that the terms, though rigid, were of but little or no account.

In 1620, two ships were provided, the Speedwell of sixty, and the Mayflower of a hundred and eighty tons burden. They were wholly insufficient, and could carry but a part of the congregation. The Reverend John Robinson, it was thereupon agreed, should remain at Leyden, while Brewster, the governing elder, should lead forth "such of the youngest and strongest as freely offered to go." A solemn fast was thereupon held. "Let us," said they, "seek of God a right way, for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance." Their pastor then gave them a farewell discourse, breathing a freedom of opinion, and independence of authority, such as the world had scarce ever heard. He charged them before God and his blessed angels, to follow him no further than he should follow his Lord and Master. He told them that Luther and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times, yet they "penetrated not the whole counsel of God." He besought them with tears, to receive whatever truths should be made known to them from the sacred oracles of Jehovah. Those intending to embark, were then feasted at the house of their pastor, "being large," and were refreshed exceedingly by the singing of "divers godly psalms, and making joyful melody in their hearts," (many of the congregation being expert in music.) They were then accompanied by the whole congregation to Delft Haven, where the ships awaited their arrival, and were again feasted "by the brethren," at the latter place. "After prayer, a flood of tears was poured out," and they were accompanied to the ships. Not a word was spoken-the scene was "too deep for words." They were not able to speak one to another, "for their abundance of sorrow." On going aboard, they fired a volley of small arms, and three pieces of ordnance; then, "lifting up their hands to each other, and their hearts and their hands to the Lord their God," departed.

A favorable breeze soon carried them to England, and in a fortnight after leaving the coast of Holland, the Mayflower and Speedwell, freighted with the first New-England colony, left Southampton for America. They had not proceeded far before the Speedwell needed repairs, and both vessels put into the port of Dartmouth. From thence they put out into the open sea, when the captain of the Speedwell and his company, dismayed at the dangers of the enterprise, pretended that the ship was too weak and ill-provided for the service; whereupon they put back to Plymouth, dismissed the Speedwell, and those who were willing returned to London. They were thus "winnowed" a second time; and the little band of emigrants, now reduced to a hundred and one in number, and consisting of men, women and children-" a floating village"-went on board the Mayflower, hired to transport them across the Atlantic, and on the 6th of September, 1620, without any warrant or authority from their sovereign, or the promise even of his protection, they committed themselves, "their little ones, and all that they had," to the care and protection of "an overruling Providence."

Pilgrims indeed-exiles for religion-schooled in misfortune-equals in rank-poor in the estimation of this world, but rich in the love of Jesusthey went forth, "the meek champions of truth"-" the apostles of liberty"—" without a stain on the spotless garments of their renown." No effeminate nobility crowded their ranks-no well-endowed clergy quitted. their cathedrals, to erect others in the wilderness. No craving governors sought wealth or rank or power, among this "little band of persecuted exiles." In the cabin of the Mayflower humanity recovered her rights: here a government was instituted on the basis of "equal and impartial justice," to promote "the general good."

Freighted with "the prospects of unborn millions"-" the forlorn hope of ransomed nations"-the Mayflower, with a thousand misgivings, pursued her adventurous march across an unknown sea, crowded almost to suffocation with women and children, supplied scantily with provisions, and for days and nights, for weeks and months, braved the ocean and the storm; sometimes delayed by calms, sometimes driven furiously before the tempest, leaping madly from billow to billow, her masts straining to their base, the ocean beating against her sides, and the ingulfing floods sweeping her decks, till, on the 9th of November, after a boisterous passage of sixty-three days, (during which only one had died,) her weather. beaten mariners descried at a distance the wished for shore, and on the 11th, "the Pilgrims," to the number of a hundred, were safely landed "on the ice-bound rocks of Plymouth."

No friendly voice hailed their approach-not even the savage bade them welcome. Weak and weary from a voyage unusually protracted, poorly armed, indifferently clad, worse provisioned, without shelter, without means, and without a home, among natives taught by experience to fear and distrust their unwelcome visitors; the nearest European settlements too far distant, had they been able, to give them succor; an ocean

on one side, boundless forests on the other; a bleak and barren coast before them, and winter approaching-such was the condition in part only of these miserable exiles, the apparent victims of immediate want, and, to all appearance, the destined prey of the savage and the elements. They were entirely ignorant of the number, the power, and temper of the numerous Indian tribes which inhabited, or rather traversed, the immense Continent that lay before them, into whose possessions they had apparently intruded, and were about to erect their habitations. The snow was about six inches in depth, and falling rapidly, and the winter-storm howling through its forests, and beating with merciless fury on the uncovered heads of women and children. What a scene! Who that has a heart within him, can but admire their fortitude, and glory in the triumph of these solitary wanderers. Compare their early, as well as their later efforts, with the baffled expectations, the deserted settlements, and the numerous adventures of other times, and how brilliant the contrast. Consider also their blighted hopes, the nature and character of the enterprise, and the struggles of many a broken heart, clinging with deathlike grasp to the loved and left beyond the sea, and find, if you can, in the annals of human wo, a parallel for scenes like these.

They received, it is true, a charter, but it was a charter of banishment. From the dark portals of the star-chamber, and in the stern text of the Act of Uniformity," the Pilgrims" received a commission more efficient than ever passed the royal seal. No convoys or navies wafted them hither, no armies defended these infant settlements, no lords or princes espoused their interests in the councils of the mother country. Their lot was cast in quiet insignificance; they were born amid hardships, and nourished among the rocks; they were indebted for no favors, and owed no duty, except to the Lord of Hosts. They trusted (and that is the secret of their success,) in the word of God—a sure, a perfect defence against every ill, a rock that never fails to shelter us in a storm.

Before they landed, they formed themselves into a "body politic," by a solemn compact; and as this is the first, and indeed, the only instrument of the kind extant, we insert it at length:

"In the name of God-amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign, King James, having undertaken, for the glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king and country, a voyage, to plant the first colony in the northern part of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and form, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the colony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."

The above instrument was signed by forty-one men, who, with their families, constituted the whole colony; and is the first written constitution extant based upon "equal rights," and the "general good." It was,