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 a^tnout!) tercentenary 
 
 c/ln ACCOUNT of the CELEBRATION 
 of the LANDING of GEORGE WAY- 
 MOUTH on the COAST o/^ MAINE 
 
t-^ 
 
 
 f' 
 
 y 
 
THE WAYMOUTH TERCENTENARY 
 
 Tlie celebration of the tliree hundredth anniversary 
 of George Waymouth's voyage to the coast of Maine 
 in 1605 was celebrated at St. George's Harbor and in 
 Thomaston on Thursday, July 6, 1905. That day 
 was selected as a fitting day for the celebration on 
 account of favorable tide conditions. 
 
 In the preparations for the celebration most intel- 
 ligent and efficient service was performed by Hon. 
 Joseph E. Moore of Thomaston. As chairman of the 
 Thomaston committee on the tercentenary he worked 
 early and late for several months, devoting his time 
 and energies very largely in the effort to make the 
 celebration worthy of this historic town. He inspired 
 his fellow townsmen with the same spirit that char- 
 acterized his own labors, and he secured from the 
 town at the annual town meeting generous financial 
 aid. That this anniversary occasion was in every 
 way successful was due in a very large measure to 
 Mr. Moore's wise, strenuous and patriotic leadership. 
 With him were associated in valued cooperative ser- 
 vice the other members of the Thomaston committee. 
 Hon. E. A. Butler of Rockland was helpful in matters 
 pertaining to transportation. Mr. Frank B. Miller, a 
 native of Gushing ( aided by Aug. S. Fales and Rev. 
 Mr. Taylor ), marked places on the St. George's River 
 and prepared a printed folder for the guests of the 
 
day giving interesting information concerning these 
 places. A marker was provided by the Thomaston 
 committee for old Fort St. George, also a flag, but 
 the people of St. George placed the marker in posi- 
 tion, raised the flag on a flagstaff, fired salutes, and 
 were represented by men in pioneer costume. Mr. 
 W. S. White, general manager of the Booth Bros. & 
 Hurricane Island Granite Company, gave the granite 
 cross which was set up on Allen's Island. The cross 
 was cut at the company's quarry at Long Cove, St. 
 George, and was transported to Allen's Island, and 
 set up by Albert J. Rawley, W. E. Sherer, Ernest 
 Rawley, John Matthews, Edward Fuller and Charles 
 Watts. In all possible ways the people of St. George 
 cooperated with the people of Thomaston in order to 
 make the celebration successful. 
 
 The morning of the celebration was not altogether 
 auspicious. It had rained a little during the night, 
 and a heavy fog in the earlier hours of the morning 
 enshrouded the town as indeed it had since the after- 
 noon of the preceding day ; but as the morning hours 
 passed the fog gradually lifted and at length the sun 
 broke through the thick masses, though for the most 
 part during the day it was enough in evidence to 
 shield from the sun's rays those participating in the 
 various exercises. 
 
 The revenue cutter Woodbury, kindly placed at 
 the disposal of the Maine Historical Society by the 
 government, came from Portland on the preceding 
 day, and was at the wharf in Thomaston, gaily decked 
 in holiday dress. As early as nine o'clock Capt. West 
 
 
CD 
 
 W 
 
 o 
 
 DC 
 
and tlie otlier officers of the Woodbury were ready to 
 welcome the members of the Society and their guests, 
 including the speakers of the day, naval officers, 
 prominent citizens of Thomaston and Rockland, also 
 members of the Gen. Knox Chapter, D. A. R. At 
 9.45 the Woodbury left the wharf and steamed down 
 the river, the Camden Concert Band furnishing music 
 for the excursion. The steamers Castine, Bristol and 
 W. G. Butman, all carrying excursionists, and all 
 with the Woodbury bound for St. George's Harbor, 
 followed, the river presenting an animated scene. 
 
 Here and there, on either side of the river, were 
 groups of interested spectators ; and cheers and salutes 
 welcomed the excursionists as they proceeded on 
 their way. Attention was called to the various points 
 of historic interest, and to the marked features of the 
 river corresponding with Rosier's enthusiastic narra- 
 tive of Waymouth's discovery of the river. 
 
 At the mouth of the river the U. S. monitor 
 Arkansas was in waiting, having been detailed for 
 service in connection with the celebration by the 
 Navy Department, and accompanied the Woodbury 
 and the excursion steamers to St. George's Harbor, 
 where all the vessels arrived about 11.30 A. M. 
 Many smaller craft were also in the harbor, and were 
 moving here and there loaded with excursionists. 
 Many visitors from the Woodbury and other steam- 
 ers landed upon Allen's Island in order to participate 
 in the services connected with the unveiling of the 
 granite memorial cross, commemorating the cross 
 erected by Waymouth on that island, or on one of the 
 
adjoining islands. Hon. Franklin L. Trussell, of 
 Port Clyde, presided. In a brief address he said 
 that the celebration on that island was in commemo- 
 ration of a bold and intrepid navigator, Capt. George 
 Waymouth, who, according to authentic records, 
 landed on or near that spot in 1G05, and erected a 
 cross as a token of English possession. Such events, 
 he said, were milestones in the history of the country, 
 and should be remembered by appropriate celebra- 
 tions. Prayer was then offered by Rev. C. E. Gould, 
 of Martinsville. Mr. George Arthur Smith, of Ten- 
 ant's Harbor, then delivered the followinor address : 
 
 There is a famous metaphysician of my acquaintance, the 
 characteristic of whose philosophy it is that in search of its goal 
 it first hunts in every nook and cranny of the philosophical 
 world where its goal is not, and then finally, after saying " Not 
 here, not here," it suddenly turns with manifest triumph to the 
 right spot, and shouts " Eureka 1 " And its logic is all the more 
 convincing because of the method employed. 
 
 May I be permitted to apply the analogy to our friends of the 
 Maine Historical Society ? For nearlj'^ three hundred years the 
 controversy over Pentecost Harbor has included all the coast of 
 Maine from Boothbay to the noble Penobscot; and now, thanks 
 to the efforts of your honorable society, we can at last say, " I 
 have found it." And the result now seems so perfectly obvious 
 that we are still wondering why we have so long remained in 
 ignorance of the birthright of our town. Hence it is with very 
 great pleasure that we of St. George welcome you here to 
 this little island to help us commemorate the discovery of our 
 ancestry, and to rejoice with us at our entrance into our 
 inheritance. 
 
 On a summer's day, three centuries ago, a hardy British cap- 
 tain and his little band of twenty-eight, after a difficult and 
 periloiis voyage across the then practically unknown seas, erected 
 a cross on one of these islands in commemoration of the fact that 
 
HON. FRANKLIN L TRUSSELL 
 
this region which now bears his name and that of England's 
 patron saint, had been discovered and claimed by a citizen of a 
 Christian nation — Great Britain, and by him dedicated to the 
 service of a Christian sovereign. 
 
 The voyages at this period were made not with the motives 
 that prompted those brave hearts that later set foot on Plymouth 
 Rock, the desire of freedom to worship God after their own fash- 
 ion ; rather were they made in a spirit of adventure, partly from 
 a desire to find a route to Africa or the Orient, and partly to win 
 new dominions for England. 
 
 Such voyages, as a rule, lacked the permanent significance of 
 the later ones, but this expedition of Captain Waymouth in 1605 
 was of immense historical importance ; for as a result of his dis- 
 coveries, two years later, in 1607, the " little Popham Colony of 
 one hundred and twenty souls debarked on the peninsula of Sag- 
 adahoc, and with ceremonies of prayer and sermon dedicated 
 the spot to civilization, and themselves to God's service," and 
 inaugurated their government. 
 
 Although this colony was broken up during the summer of 
 1608, and all its members who survived the hardships of the 
 winter returned to England, a beginning of colonization efforts 
 had been made. Not many years followed before other settlers 
 were upon the coast. The growth of the settlements was slow, 
 but in the lapse of time those little communities increased in 
 number and have now become an integral part of the mighty 
 nation of 80,000,000 1 Their early growth, however, was not 
 unattended by dangers and perils, and had it not been for the 
 fostering care of the country which first gave our nation its 
 birth, the destruction that more than once impended would have 
 become an actuality. For her later mistakes, and for misunder- 
 standing the real spirit and interests of her greatest colony. Great 
 Britain amply atoned, and yet, although we who are so proud of 
 our country's progress, prosperity and world position to-day, 
 naturally hesitate to acknowledge dependence upon any other 
 nation, we cannot forget the debt the New England owes to the 
 old. Her high ideals, we as children of the same Anglo-Saxon 
 parentage, have inlierited ; her language and her literature and 
 her body of common law are as well our own. Profiting by her 
 example more than by that of any other nation, we have grown 
 
by adopting the good in her life, by patterning after her suc- 
 cesses, and by avoiding as best we could her mistakes. And yet 
 we have nevertheless achieved our growth in our own way, and 
 have given to the world an example and a pattern of a land in 
 which the people as rulers have reigned as wisely and justly as 
 the sovereigns " who can do no wrong." 
 
 A century and a quarter ago, when under the guidance of 
 him whom this country rightly calls its father, these colonies 
 became the United States of America, and selected their own 
 form of government, the watchword of our international policy 
 was, as you all know, " Friendship toward all, entangling alliances 
 with none." It was felt, and justly so, that our safety would be 
 best conserved, our internal welfare and progress best aided by 
 attending strictly and carefully to our own affairs. And so, for 
 over a century we have kept as completely as possible out of 
 foreign complications. By our steady, consistent policy, we have 
 acquired a reputation as a nation for sincerity, firmness and fair- 
 ness in all our international dealings, such as is surpassed by 
 that of no other power large or small, and of this reputation we 
 may justly be proud. 
 
 But man proposes. The disposal of human events is in its 
 ultimate analysis in higher hands than ours. Do not mistake me 
 as unreservedly sanctioning the logic of those who use the con- 
 venient plea of manifest destiny as a gild wherewith to gloss 
 over other and baser reasons for certain unknown coui'ses of 
 action. The philosophy of determinism and foreordination has 
 yet to demonstrate its right to existence as the guiding principle 
 of the life either of the individual or of the nation. What I do 
 mean is that we have attained our present influence for peace in 
 the family of nations because we have adopted as the guiding 
 principle of our policy the belief that there is an absolute final 
 right or wrong for a nation as well as for an individual, — because 
 our statesmen have in the main believed with our private citizen 
 that truth will not forever remain on the scaffold, nor wrong 
 forever triumph. Let me repeat, our policy as a nation may have 
 been sometimes misguided, — omniscience has not yet become one 
 of hiimanity's attributes, — but it has for the greater part been a 
 sincere one. Who can deny that it was our reputation as one of 
 the greatest, if not indeed the greatest, peace powers on earth 
 
MR. ARTHUR GEORGE SMITH 
 
that brought success to the efforts of our executive in the recent 
 negotiations for a peace conference. 
 
 We have become a world power by keeping out of world poli- 
 tics. Secure in ovir position as the greatest nation in the Western 
 Plemisphere, we have devoted our attention to our own growth 
 and prosperity. Realizing that a nation disunited and discordant 
 at home must be powerless abroad, we have sought internal unity 
 and harmony. The search was by no means a simple or easy 
 one, and was not accomplished without the greatest civil contest 
 the world has ever known. Bitter as the struggle was, can we 
 who look back upon it to-day say that it was not necessary to 
 settle the crisis which compromises, however skilfully planned, 
 had only served to postpone, and hence accentuate? Those 
 memorable issues, fortunately, are past. We have long ago for- 
 given our brethren of the South for their mistake, and we know 
 they have forgiven us for our folly in imposing upon them decon- 
 struction under the mistaken idea that we were giving them 
 reconstruction. Mutual forgiveness, and our realization of the 
 need of it, has made us more careful of each other's interests than 
 we ever were before. Never again shall our country be rent by 
 sectional differences, for never again will we allow it to be said 
 that we of the North and of the South do not understand each 
 other. The different sections are rapidly being drawn together 
 into comm.on bonds of fellowship and vmity by that magic link, 
 commimity of interests. The South is no longer merely an agri- 
 cultural community. In the land where only a few years ago 
 were mainly woods and fields, are now mines and mills, foundries 
 and factories, the latter rivalling, nay, sometimes sm-passing, those 
 of (Our own New England, the home of the loom and spindle. 
 As a consequence, the flood of immigration is no longer content 
 with deluging our Northern shores alone, but the South is also 
 claiming her share, and thus has begun to contribute her portion 
 of the leaven needed to transform the fiery descendants of Stan- 
 islaus or of the Caesars into sturdy, intelligent American citizens. 
 
 And so we can say that out of the turmoil of this last century 
 of the three which have elapsed since this little harbor of Pente- 
 cost offered her friendly shelter to the first British ship, we can 
 say that into our national life have come wealth, power and 
 unity, and above all the honor that appertains only to a nation 
 
whose diplomacy the other powers have learned both to respect 
 and to trust. 
 
 Now just a word of the future. This year marks not only the 
 anniversary we are here primarily to celebrate, but connotes also 
 what may be a crisis in our national life. A iew years ago our 
 martyred President aroused us to a realization of the fact that 
 our policy of ideal exclusiveness must to some extent be aban- 
 doned. This policy of splendid isolation has in the years that 
 are past been our salvation. But within the last few years, con- 
 ditions have, to some extent at least, materially altered. In the 
 words of a recent editorial, " We are closer in touch with the 
 edge of European interests than ever before as the result of our 
 national expansion. We have possessions in far distant seas 
 where ten years ago no American thought he Mould ever set the 
 Stars and Stripes floating over the territory of the United States. 
 We are not far from Hong Kong nor the German and P^rench 
 possessions in the far East." And now comes the message from 
 the old England to the New ; given only a few days ago by 
 England's premier. To our newly appointed ambassador he 
 said : " Immemorial traditions have indicated the desire of the 
 United States to keep themselves as little entangled as may be 
 with the complex political relations of the older world on this 
 side of the Atlantic. I doubt whether in its absolute and 
 extreme purity that doctrine is likely to be permanently main- 
 tained. So great a nation as the United States, owing so much 
 and giving so much to the civilization of old Europe, sharing its 
 learning and advancing its science, can hardly expect to be able 
 to share all these things and yet take no part whatever in the 
 political life which is an inseparable element of them. It is 
 almost as inconceivable that the United States should remain in 
 that ideal isolation, as that some vast planet suddenly introduced 
 into the system should not have its perturbing influence on other 
 planets." 
 
 Briefly, this message means that the time has come for this 
 nation to abandon her policy of isolation, and to take her share 
 in the politics of the world, and thus accept our rightful respon- 
 sibilities in the family of nations. The eternal significance of 
 such a call from such a source is evident. Two paths are now 
 presented to us Avhere once was only one. It is not for me to 
 
 s' 
 
o 
 
discuss their relative merits. I have only this to say : whichever 
 one we choose, our ultimate safety as a nation consists in our 
 faithful adherence to those old ideals of national life and national 
 conduct which have heretofore been our guidance. 
 
 It may be that we shall see fit still to continue along the path 
 our fathers have blazed out for us ; or it may be that heeding 
 the call that comes from England's statesman, we shall feel it 
 our duty to go forth with the nation that is above all others 
 nearest to us in heritage and sympathies, to take a more active 
 and possibly militant part in world affairs. In either case, I 
 repeat, let it be our prayer and our endeavor that our leaders, 
 following the right as God gives them to see the right, will keep 
 our country's policy true to those ideals of conduct which have 
 made her what she is to-day, the ideals for which stands this 
 stone we here unveiled to-day, for which the cross has ever 
 stood, not for theology and dogma alone, — our nation was founded 
 in part as a protest against that, — but the rational ideals of justice, 
 honor and tnith, friendship and sincerity. Such weapons as 
 these, far more surely than armies and navies, will make this 
 nation what Sir William Mather, a prominent English leader, 
 has already termed it, the moral leader of the world, able in the 
 future, even more than we have been in the past, to urge what 
 we present on grounds of moral rather than physical force. 
 
 Before the opening of these exercises, a dozen men, 
 representing Capt. George Waymouth and some of 
 his crew, together with three Indians, had landed on 
 Allen's Island and were grouped around the unveiled 
 cross. Capt. Waymouth was represented by Dr. W. 
 J. Jameson of Thomaston. *' Waymouth's crew" 
 was made up as follows : First officer, C. M. Walker ; 
 second officer, Levi Seavey ; powder boy, Harold 
 Jameson ; sailors, C. J. Freeman, Dr. J. S. Norton, 
 R. L. Thompson, C. H. Gushing, W. F. Tibbetts and 
 Lewis Seavey. The " Indians " were I. G. Young, 
 Henry Beverage and Ralph Harrington. At the close 
 
of Mr. Smith's address, Capt. Waymouth removed 
 the stars and stripes that concealed the granite cross, 
 revealing the simple inscription, " Waymouth ; 1605- 
 1905." A pre-arranged signal on a near-by flagstaff 
 announced the unveiling, and the Arkansas opening 
 her guns, at once thundered forth a national salute. 
 At the close of the salute, Hon. J. E. Moore lowered 
 the flag on the flagstaff, and a large burgee, bearing 
 the inscription, *' Pentecost Harbor," took its place. 
 Both the flag and burgee were presented by Mrs. 
 William R. Grace, of New York, a native of St. 
 George. 
 
 At the conclusion of the unveiling exercises on 
 Allen's Island, the visitors from the Woodbury 
 returned to the cutter, where an elegant lunch was 
 served by the ladies of the Gen. Knox Chapter, D. 
 A. R. The committee in charge of the lunch was 
 made up as follows : Mrs. C. A. Creighton, Mrs. 
 Richard Dunn and Mrs. H. R. Linnell. 
 
 At the close of the lunch, the Woodbury raised her 
 anchor, and with the Arkansas, and a large fleet of 
 smaller craft, sailed up to the mouth of the St. 
 George's River and then entered the river itself. 
 The tide was now nearly at full height, and the scene 
 was one of very great interest as well as of rare love- 
 liness on either side of the river, while in front, up 
 in the main, were the mountains mentioned by Rosier 
 as seen by Waymouth as he passed up the river three 
 hundred years before. In the company there was no 
 more interested spectator than Capt. George Prince, 
 now in his eighty-eighth year, who nearly half a 
 
 10 
 
en < 
 
 i: « 
 
 5 I 
 
century ago was tlie first to call attention to the claims 
 of tlie St. George's River as the river of Waymonth's 
 discovery. This delightful return to Thomaston was 
 marked by frequent salutes fired by interested parties 
 at different points. The Arkansas ascended the river 
 as far as Fort St. George and then anchored. 
 
 At Thomaston, as the guests were leaving the 
 Woodbury, a salute was fired by the cutter in honor 
 of Governor Cobb. A procession was then formed 
 consisting of Waymouth's crew, the Indians, and 
 about one hundred and twenty-five school children, 
 with the Camden Concert Band at the head. At the 
 mall about two thousand people assembled to witness 
 the exercises connected with the unveiling of the 
 memorial erected by the town. 
 
 Hon. Joseph E. Moore presided. The invocation 
 was by Rev. W. A. Newcombe, D.D., of Thomaston. 
 Mr. Moore then delivered the following address of 
 welcome : 
 
 We are gratified that we are enabled to join with you, the 
 members of the Maine Historical Society, in celebrating on your 
 annual field day an event as important as that which gives name 
 to this celebration. We greet you and the guests from other 
 societies with pleasure, and welcome your coming. 
 
 The object of a historical society is to establish truth and 
 make perpetual a record of it ; not truth in the abstract, as scien- 
 tific or religious, but facts of history which show the progress of 
 individuals and nations, their rise and fall. You are impartial. 
 Because you find some things that you wish were different, you 
 do not conceal them ; but each is chronicled according to the 
 truth. Preconceived notions of any act or event bear no part 
 in the search. Your object is to enlighten mankind, and mark 
 the footsteps of those who have gone before. 
 
 11 
 
In this commercial age, this age of greed, even in these days 
 of strenuous action, how pleasant to realize that there are men 
 with other purposes, who can throw those all aside, and devote 
 a time at least to the study and search that enlarge the infor- 
 mation of the world, without a show of gain, but rather a finan- 
 cial loss ; — as lovers of the useful, and the perpetuation of the 
 events that shoAv the world's progress, the life that those behind 
 us lived, and the causes that result in the present conditions. 
 Your labor is unselfish. You chronicle the achievements of oth- 
 ers and not those of yourselves. Your reward lies not in your 
 own glorification, but in bringing to light and perpetuating the 
 marked deeds of others, then- successes, their defeats, and the 
 results. 
 
 In the material world the great whole is made up of combined 
 particles. So in history. While it is not the single event that 
 we study, alone, however important, but the series, when we 
 would learn the world's history ; still, each event must be noted, 
 and accurately, to be sure that the whole is right. Therefore 
 the value of determining and preserving local history is not to 
 be belittled. Your society may be limited in the place of your 
 active research to IMaine, but the result goes far beyond her 
 borders. 
 
 The event we celebrate to-day bears no small part in Ameri- 
 can history. It has been the subject of much controversy. Its 
 imjjortance has been recognized and, like everything great and 
 valuable, claimants for the honor of its location have been mapy. 
 When Waymouth planted the English cross at the mouth of this 
 river, and up in the main where it "trended westward," he 
 announced that this was Virginia, and none were so bold as to 
 question it. This is but one event, but with others it becomes 
 an important one. You have searched history and fixed this 
 one, and thus made accurate what has been uncertain. You 
 prove yom- impartiality in this, — that when shown the facts by 
 a resident of Thomaston, you investigate, and, though counter to 
 earlier history, you recognize the truth and emblazon it. 
 
 Three hundred years ago on a summer's day, perhaps like 
 this, that doughty English captain, George Waymouth, came in 
 his small vessel to these shores, and later sailed up this river to 
 plant the cross of St. George and claim for England the right to 
 
 12 
 
HON. JOSEPH E. MOORE 
 
this goodly land. He was not welcomed by bands of music and 
 gladsome English song, but vast forests were spread before him, 
 and all nature gave him welcome ; the strong oak and whisper- 
 ing pine welcomed him to give improvement and advancement ; 
 the birds that nested in the trees welcomed him with joyous 
 songs ; and the infant of that power which filled his sails and 
 brought him to these shores, — the morning and evening zephyrs, 
 blowing through the grasses and over the rippling waters, — 
 welcomed him. 
 
 Your welcome is as hearty. Streets and houses and the voice 
 you know are in place of the great forests. Our broad avenues 
 and shaded streets welcome you ; our giant elms will give you 
 welcome shade ; our hearts and homes give you thrice welcome. 
 We give into your hands the keys that open every gate and 
 every door, in assurance of the fullness of our hospitality and its 
 joyful bestowal. Do not hesitate to test its strength, or try to 
 find its bounds, for we mean that both shall be unlimited. 
 
 Hon. James P. Baxter, President of the Maine His- 
 torical Society, responded for the Society in a brief, 
 but hearty acknowledgement of the greeting so gen- 
 erously extended. 
 
 Hon. William T. Cobb, Governor of Maine, who 
 had accompanied the excursionists to St. George's 
 Harbor on the Woodbury, followed with an eloquent 
 address : 
 
 We are here to-day not to make history, but to refer to its 
 local beginnings, and to commemorate by appropriate observ- 
 ances an event of historical importance to the State, and of 
 peculiar interest to this beautiful town. 
 
 It has been established, substantially beyond controversy, that 
 on a certain morning in the early summer of 1605, George Way- 
 mouth, an Englishman and commanding an English ship, while 
 on a voyage of discovery to the New World, sailed up this river 
 and landing at the harbor's head was the first known white man 
 to set foot upon these shores. 
 
 13 
 
the beginning, of mII '" °™^ '"' ^" *™« -'«> 
 
 On that June day when Wavmouth loft I,; i, 
 coast, and proceeded cautimMlTr h ""chorage on the 
 
 lately unknown to anyl n 1^ I? '^^"T' f-' '^"^^^ abso- 
 a great and powerful nation. She wlsll f t T- "'""'^ 
 
 ^vageahorigTi ^ ^z::;;::^^^ 'rr; 
 
 fi% year, we ha™ 'e.^derirtesrof^'' ^°, ■ "'" "^^ '-* 
 material development for „• , achievements for 
 
 contemplating thTctn^; ^::!:rv:^:z.^h '' 
 
 own we may we., exclaim -. What hath ZtLZ °" 
 
 w^oiTv^arhaTXt™!;: -— r "^^ 
 
 country hastll^ed'^Ijrefrtrd'r''""^'"^ "' ' 
 ever far reaching in historical L! ! ^ "^ '™°*''' ""O"- 
 
 for the student o^f histoTX '^2,7°',;''"^ """"^^^ '"*--« 
 to know more of our ILT ", T "" a™kened impulse 
 
 conception "^ z:^i:z^z^^t: . tr 
 
 ;ng^»pression in acts of commemoration like^^ rVe^ftt 
 
 adiL?„';oftarlingir„V"t-'°''™^" ''"'''' '^ '^« 
 of local pride around bvth f ^ "'^ *''''* *» «»timents 
 find a readv and In ^ 'i<^d,cat,on of tablets like this one, 
 
 thecitil fo our'ltatrV^r" '^T." '""^ '"' """^-' 
 toric associations and replet^wi h tb °°"T " """ '^ ■"'»- 
 
 strength and counsel Tstl'te d alioT" tL "v '"'"' «''™ 
 of them, are students and lover of he past Ld TT' """^ 
 lie spirit she has caused to be perpZtedl, "r"'" 
 
 bronze the memory of Wavmouth'. v . , '" '"''""S 
 
 J' or waymouth 8 voyage and landing on this 
 
 U 
 
\- 
 
 m 
 
coast. By this appreciative acknowledgment of the claims of 
 history, Thomaston has furnished an example that all other 
 towns in Maine may well emulate, and has earned the gratitude 
 of the State. 
 
 At the close of Governor Cobb's address, the 
 memorial tablet was unveiled by Miss Ruth Flint 
 Linnell, daughter of Mr. R. H. Linnell of Thomaston, 
 who had an important part in the task of transferring 
 to the mall the giant boulder to which the tablet was 
 affixed. The tablet bears the following inscription : 
 
 To Commemorate the Voyage of 
 
 Captain 
 
 George Waymouth 
 
 TO THE Coast of Maine 
 
 IN 1605 
 
 His Discovery and Exploration of the 
 
 St, George's River 
 
 Anb Planting a Cross on the 
 
 Northerly Shore of this Harbor 
 
 Where the River "Trended Westward" 
 
 The Earliest Known Claim of 
 
 Right of Possession by Englishmen 
 
 On New England Soil 
 
 This Tablet is Erected by the 
 
 Town of Thomaston 
 
 1905 
 
 Mr. J, B. Keating, British Vice Consul at Portland, 
 was then introduced and delivered the following 
 address : 
 
 To-day in a most charming manner you have commemorated 
 the landing on these shores of British seamen under the com- 
 mand of Captain Waymouth. To these pioneers of Christianity 
 and their kinsmen who come after them the world owes a great 
 deal ; for, after all, who can gainsay the fact that it was British- 
 ers, led by a Britisher, who so effectively cleaned house for you 
 
 15 
 
and who adopted the constitution which has won the admiration 
 of the whole world. 
 
 Great Britain certainly owes to her former subjects a great 
 debt of gratitude for having taught her how to govern her colo- 
 nies and thereby to successfully hold together an empire having 
 a population equal to one-fourth of the inhabitants of the globe, 
 dwelling within an area of nearly twelve million square miles, 
 and of whom none are more loyal than her sturdy sons and 
 daughters, your immediate neighbors in Canada — sepai'ated 
 from you only by an imaginary line and huge tariff wall. 
 
 As Britishers we love our flag, to us the emblem of Christian- 
 ity, civilization and freedom in the highest degree ; and Americans 
 have a keen regard for the British flag because it was once theirs 
 and stands firmly for unity with them. We Britishers honor 
 and revere the Stars and Stripes. We take a keen delight in the 
 progress made under your beautiful banner and we universally 
 regard it as emblematical of liberty, progressiveness in arts and 
 sciences, as Avell as being the flag of our brothers. 
 
 No man can reasonably expect that in this vast country the 
 traditions of the past can entirely govern the future of the United 
 States, or yet keep the country purely Anglo-Saxon, but each 
 celebration such as we have witnessed this day will ever keep 
 verdant the knowledge that it was your and my countrymen 
 who laid the foundation stone for the upbuilding of this vast 
 nation and may we not hope that the Stars and Stripes of Amer- 
 ica and the Union Jack of old England shall ever float side by 
 side and together advance in the civilization of the world, thereby 
 securing everlasting peace. 
 
 During my stay in Maine, now rounding ten years, it has been 
 my constant aim to take advantage of every opportunity arising 
 to draw your and my countrymen into closer acquaintance and 
 fi'iendship. The jubilee of our late Queen served as an excuse 
 to bring into your waters a British man-of-war, after an absence 
 therefrom of over twenty-five years. The next year, while 
 your sons were encamj^ed in the South and your country at war, 
 one of Canada's representative regiments came into your State 
 under arms to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of 
 commerce to you with Canada by the Grand Trunk Railway, 
 and incidentally to help you celebrate the Fourth of July and the 
 
 16 
 
HON. JOHN B. KEATING 
 
 Briiish Vice Consul at Portland 
 
victory of the American fleet at Santiago. Since then a British 
 fleet has twice been inyour waters and this year nearly seven 
 hundred soldiers were guests of your militia in Portland. These 
 events and the visit of the Portland Naval Reserves to Canada 
 last year, with the harmonious blending of the redcoats and the 
 bluejackets, with the sight of the flags of the two greatest 
 nations in the world floating so frequently side by side, has done 
 much to draw more closely together our two countries. 
 
 And now may I add that there is still more to be accomplished 
 to complete the family reunion ? I mean, of course, closer trade 
 relationship. This question, I know, is receiving the constant 
 attention of the statesmen of both countries. Maine has in the 
 past been a great factor in legislation for the good of the whole. 
 Can we not therefore hope that your representatives, who so 
 efiiciently fill the place of them that have gone before them, may 
 yet find a way to bring the people of New England into a closer 
 trade relationship with my countrymen to the north of you. 
 
 Mr. Moore then introduced Maj.-Gen. Josliua L. 
 Chamberlain, who spoke as follows : 
 
 We have come here to celebrate, not a victory, nor a veritable 
 beginning, but a passing incident, a visit; purposed, however, 
 and well ordered, and taking significance from being closely 
 linked with the movements which resulted in the English domi- 
 nation of these North Atlantic shores. Linked, — implying a 
 connection, but not a cause ; for no man can assign the cause of 
 anything whatever that has happened in human history. We 
 may know of conditions precedent, and sine qua non, — without 
 which a thing could not have come to pass ; but causes lie deep, 
 germinated in the spiritual essence of things, both physical and 
 psychical. 
 
 What we note here is the fact of Waymouth's visit, in a ship 
 auspiciously named the Archangel, and kept in character by due 
 observance of religious exercises on board, with high ends in 
 view which prompted the kidnapping of some best specimens of 
 the inhabitants for exhibition at home in verification of his 
 reports, or proof of the capabilities of this virgin soil; claim- 
 ing warrant, perhaps with religious consistency, by the Old 
 
 17 
 
Testament tactics of the visit of the spies to the promised land 
 beyond Jordan with instructions to bring back the best of what- 
 ever they could lay their hands on. This last is an important 
 item ; it supplies the link which connects this visit with immense 
 results. For these good specimen products of the new country 
 being consigned to some of the keen forecasters in England, 
 woke a vital interest in the discoveries she had practically ignored 
 for a century. We have the testimony of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
 one of the chief promoters of Waymouth's voyage, to whom the 
 study and instruction of these unwilling guests were committed, 
 that " this accident," he called it, " was the acknowledged 
 means under God, of putting on foot and giving life to all our 
 plantations." 
 
 And these plantations were the forerunners, if not the imme- 
 diate agencies, of a force whereby the English overcame the 
 French, claiming by as good a title and holding by a prior and 
 better occupancy. Fortxinate Nahanada, Amoret, Skidwaroes, — 
 simple savages, helpless captives, but made vehicles of a divine 
 communication fraught with the destinies of nations ! Fortunate 
 Waymouth, — the craft of man made part of the work of God I 
 These it was then, — Waymouth's unwitting witnesses, — who 
 woke the first whisper of that deep decree whereby New France 
 should become New England, and passing the barriers of disso- 
 ciating mountains, and owning only the mighty waters for 
 boundaries, this land of ours should be held of neither crown, 
 but by a nation to be born, — the people of these United States. 
 
 Thoughts come to us here : what was the force which effected 
 this dispossession ; what was its justification ; what is, and is to 
 be, the outcome. The whole case will be set before us to-day 
 with skilful elaboration by chosen orators. For me, but few 
 words. 
 
 And first, this was a matter of race. But what is race ? It is 
 something of blood. By that we mean certain specific tenden- 
 cies, vital, spiritual, persistent. And in whatever intermingling, 
 whether through innate affinities or outward inducements, a cer- 
 tain positive tendency will dominate, and will mark the resultant 
 character. 
 
 Difference of race is an obvious fact, however accounted for. 
 The Roman is different from the Greek ; the Turk from the 
 
 18 
 
Arab ; the Hungarian from the German ; the Irish from the 
 English ; the Japanese from the Russian. It is obvious also that 
 physical surroundings do not determine these differences, for we 
 find the physical conditions not so widely varied in these cases, 
 — and the local situation, almost the same. Race differences 
 are marked in the several provinces of one so-called nation, — as 
 in France and Spain. 
 
 There is a current saying that man is the creature of his envi- 
 ronment. That may be true of some ; but a man so made is a 
 poor kind of a man. No doubt all are affected more or less by 
 environment ; but the final character is determined by innate 
 forces and susceptibilities. When Ave speak of environment, 
 bear in mind that there are two kinds of it, — one, the obvious 
 physical surroundings ; the other, the atmosphere and contact of 
 invisible spiritual influences. The inborn nature of man makes 
 the selection, and determines the outcome. If this nature is 
 dull, or indolent, or simply receptive, outward influences may 
 prevail. But men and races that are foremost make themselves 
 so by inborn force. 
 
 Physical geography in simple times had large effect on human 
 character. Work and thoughts and habits of life must be so 
 directed. But soon some aspiring mind begins to master out- 
 ward conditions. The Dutch first made land where there was sea ; 
 now they are making sea where there is land. Physical features 
 may some time determine the boundaries of nations. But sooner 
 or later some force of men will change these landmarks. All 
 history shows this. The structure and climate of a continent 
 is in some sort a prophecy of its destiny. But this is made true 
 only in the long run, when commingling and combinations of 
 men have brought out the best traits in each type of manhood, 
 and revealed the treasures of nature to be turned to human 
 good. The Nile once made Egypt ; now England makes the 
 Nile. Aforetime men stood in awe of it; human life was its 
 servant. Now the great barrage at the Assouan cataract, con- 
 trolling the mighty waters, creates new seasons for human toil 
 and puts the mastery in the hands of man. So English energy 
 makes new environment, which in turn will serve to transform 
 Egyptian character, and make a new Egypt. But it is man that 
 has done it, — meaning by that blood and brain, observing the 
 
 19 
 
work of God, reading in opportunity His purpose, and following 
 His thought. 
 
 Now appears that other kind of environment, — the influences 
 which we must call spiritual, having strangely no word in our 
 language as yet exactly answering the conception and fact of an 
 energy not embodied, but inspiring and governing human action. 
 What we call the influence of mind upon mind is a marvellous 
 power, — whether direct, in personal intercourse, or in wider cir- 
 cuits through social enlargement, or as representative in works of 
 the spirit, as in eloquence, poetry, music, painting, sculpture, 
 expressive fabrics of architecture, and mighty works of engineer- 
 ing. In such things thought lives, the vanished speaks. We 
 are told that there are some mysterious laws in chemistry, 
 whereby the susceptibility of certain elements ready to combine 
 is so affected by the mere presence of some other element not 
 itself commingling, as almost to control their behavior. That 
 law of influence is a mighty one in all the worlds to which we 
 belong. 
 
 We believe people are deeply influenced by their religion ; 
 their view of spiritual belongings. But to a great degree people 
 influence any given religion by their personal temperaments. 
 Christianity exhibits various phases in the Nestorian, the Coptic, 
 the Greek and the Roman churches. And our modern Protest- 
 antism is sharply differentiated by Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, 
 Puritan, Presbyterian and Methodist. In a certain way, acting 
 and reacting on each other, they make a whole. 
 
 There is a perpetuating influence in the prevailing public sen- 
 timent and social order of a community. We make much 
 account of the assimilating power of our political and social insti- 
 tutions upon the people immigrating into our country. This 
 may be a saving grace for us in the present inundations of for- 
 eign race and blood, the overflowings of all peoples. But we 
 shall find great difference in the capacity and capability of dif- 
 ferent people as to this transformation. 
 
 Nothing in this world seems fixed, one and the same for all. 
 Human freedom makes certain things very uncertain. A gift 
 depends on how we take it; environment and opportunity are 
 what we make them. In this mass and mesh of things around 
 us, some innate force allied, at least, to the sj^iritual, determines 
 
 20 
 
destinies. It is so that race characteristics are wrought out, peo- 
 ple by people, age after age. 
 
 But peculiar and prominent as these are, a pure race we 
 scarcely find. Earliest history shows each race already of mixed 
 blood, though differing decidedly each from each. This comes 
 from certain strains of preponderant force, or readiness of com- 
 bining power. Some we see almost repellant of combination. 
 Look at the American Indian; stubborn in his characteristics. 
 You can kill him, but you can't kill these out of him. Indeed it 
 is these very characteristics that are killing him out. As a rule 
 the mixed races are the ablest, physically and mentally. But it 
 is not true that all mixed races are superior. It depends on 
 what there was to mix. There is some intricate law about it. 
 Mixture of elements within certain generic lines, but not too 
 near specifically, produces increase of strength ; taken from too 
 near or too far, — deterioration and sterility. But true mixture 
 is a harmony, working out all the variations of its persistent 
 theme. 
 
 Here to-day we contemplate the beginning of the struggle of 
 France and England for the domination of this continent. 
 Which should win? He to whom it was given, — not by cir- 
 cumstance but by capability ; not by force of quantity, but of 
 quality. Two races in their main root almost identical ; of the 
 Viking blood, fierce in fight, deeply and richly mixed, the per- 
 sistent vital energy ever readjusting its composite elements, giv- 
 ing to each a polarity of its own. The old Northmen conquered 
 Normandy, planting their name in France, but taking the lan- 
 guage and law of previous conquerors, the Roman, because these 
 served their mastery ; and these hold to this day. Their descend- 
 ents, the Normans, conquered England, but took on the language 
 of the conquered, — the deep-rooted mother tongue, — and also 
 their laws, wrought out on the north shores of the Rhine and 
 Scandinavian seas. These also to abide, — language and law ; — 
 and are mainly ours, here and now. Two peoples not so far 
 apart in the dominating element of their origin, following the 
 lines of different stimulus and impulse, developing characters 
 peculiar and clearly marked. One fertile of ideas and quick of 
 hand ; the other slow of thought but stout of heart ; one daring 
 in overture, spirited in action ; the other slowly resolving, but 
 
 21 
 
resolute unto the end. So are they unto this day. One ever 
 prompt, adroit, chivalrous, projecting beginnings ; the other 
 calmy observant, gathering force, biding time, effecting consum- 
 mations. One leading the civilization of Europe, the other belt- 
 ing the globe ! So the vision of to-day : the French overture 
 here brilliant as the sky ; the English consummation solid as the 
 earth. And we who behold, proclaim it as a triumph of our 
 race ; but do not forget that there have passed into it other 
 heroic and not lost beginnings. 
 
 Now for the right of it. By what right did England win? 
 By right of some " higher law " declaring itself in mysterious 
 ways as of better worth than right of possession. By authority 
 of some overmastering force in human history, making the best 
 of each the benefit of all, turning failure of one to profit of 
 another, even overruling evil for final good. Justifications are on 
 a great scale and far away, where all find their belongings. 
 England entered where France had opened ; took what she had 
 made ready. So have I seen the osprey and the eagle ; one 
 with flashing wing dashing between sky and sea to snatch her 
 prey ; the other watching from some calm rock, then rushing to 
 grasp the booty borne by the taker in mid air. This is natural 
 law. This right through greater need or better use is admitted 
 in the practice, and therefore is the law, of progress. True, this 
 may also be the plea of the highwayman ; but the natural law of 
 society seems not the same as the moral law for the individual. 
 Some races are better able to bring out the goods and uses of 
 nature than others, and thus advance their own excellence. Soon 
 or late, they take the precedence. And the acquiescence of 
 others makes good the title. Is it not so ? By what other right 
 are we from the Old World holding this New World once 
 belonging to a simpler race '? And by what other right are the 
 nations of Christendom doing many things disliked but approved 
 by all ? Is not the survival of the fittest the right of the strong- 
 est? And is not this the law of nature by which the world goes 
 on, whether we will or no ? And is not this of that great 
 branch of the human law known as the customary ? 
 
 Now, what is the outcome ? Evidently it is not complete as 
 yet. A phase of it is passing. We now on these long-coveted 
 shores, descendants or successors of great actors here, have no 
 
 22 
 
reason to regret accidents or issues of early history, nor to be 
 ashamed of the character since wrought out, or of the work done 
 for the world. In some of us is blood mingled of both great 
 races battling here, but we are not sorry to be named of the race 
 that if not first but latest in beginnings, is on the foremost front 
 of the world's advance. 
 
 Three centuries have passed. Some climax has been reached. 
 For here we see now the tide of ancient blood on the ebb. Our 
 new generations are sending forth their boldest to meet the 
 demand for energy on other shores, and to make history in turn. 
 Peoples are taking their place whom we may deem not the 
 equals of the outgoers. But who shall presume to judge the 
 reasons of God's ways, or to know the rule of mixture in His 
 chemistry? Some incomers are closely allied to us in blood, 
 and readily enter into our aspirations and ideas. Others, though 
 of blood wider and farther mixed, come gladly to us, and into our 
 citizenship. At least they are taking up what goods of nature 
 the outgoers have left not fairly tested. Is not this a certain 
 progress ? 
 
 A passing glance shows present movement, but not its mean- 
 ing, nor the full tendency of things. In the great tides, currents 
 are running many ways. The inward and outward set goes ever 
 on by periods elsewhere determined. But there is a trend we 
 cannot see ; an ever increasing worth, to which our best work 
 belongs. 
 
 What we may be sure of is our duty to hold fast the faith and 
 practice out of which the sterling character of our fathers was 
 evolved; to reverence those things which have enabled us to 
 take part in the betterment of human conditions, the clearer 
 recognition of the worth of manhood, — and if perchance it be 
 held as some higher thing, — of womanhood. It is ours to cherish 
 the principles and institutions which have secured for us light 
 and liberty, and so hold them that all incomers shall enjoy these 
 blessings and also be able to appreciate them and perpetuate 
 them. 
 
 Prophecies are written both in the face of nature, and in the 
 heart of man. Good has been wrought here, but most of good is 
 yet to come, — to come to be. And in such times, when deeper 
 knowledge of man and nature shall disclose deeper things of 
 
 23 
 
good, then may emerge a new composite life in which shall hold 
 part our history and our hope. Perhaps even the physical 
 features now forming boundaries of nationalities and of enter- 
 prise may take on truer meaning, and the shores of this great 
 gulf named now of Maine, on whose outer edge the Gulf Stream 
 and Arctic currents meet, are potent yet of God's deep purpose ; 
 and the peoples behind, seeing the vast reach of opportimity and 
 the unity of their interests, will make of this stored and storied 
 sea-front a vantage ground not only for exchange of their prod- 
 ucts but for the interchange of all best gifts and winnings for 
 the world. 
 
 The closing address was by Hon. Charles E. Little- 
 field of Rockland. 
 
 Mr. President^ Gentlemen of the Maine Historical Society., 
 JLadies and Gentlemen: Inasmuch as the exercises upon this 
 occasion are to close with what I may add, I can safely say that 
 up to the present moment the Society is to be congratulated 
 upon the successful manner in which the entire program has 
 been carried out. Everything from the illustrated landing of 
 Waymouth and his men to the various addresses which have 
 been delivered has been fit and appropriate. I congratulate the 
 Daughters of the American Revolution for the very happy man- 
 ner in which their portion of the program involving the serving 
 of the appetizing luncheon on the cutter has been rendered. 
 They are to be especially complimented upon the attractive and 
 beautiful committee which had the honor to represent them. It 
 may safely be suggested that if that vigorous and redoubtable 
 old pioneer, Capt. George Waymouth, had been met iTi:»on his 
 landing upon these shores by such a committee, the attraction 
 would have been so great that he could never have been induced 
 to return to England. I congratulate the committee having this 
 matter in charge upon the part of the citizens of Thomaston, and 
 especially the distinguished chairman of the committee, Hon. J. 
 E. Moore. The uninterrupted and gratifying success which he 
 has witnessed to-day as a result of several weeks trying effort 
 leaves him I take it in a vastly more gratifying frame of mind 
 than he experienced yesterday. 
 
 24 
 
HON. CHARLES E. LITTLEFIELD by permission of 
 
 J. E. PURDY 
 
I have learned that during the day, when he was embarrassed 
 by some of the difficulties, disagreements, misunderstandings and 
 uncomfortable features necessarily involved in the working out 
 of such exercises, he was not imbued with the cheerful and opti- 
 mistic expectations which, judging from the serene expression of 
 his countenance to-day, he is now seeing realized. On the con- 
 trary, he is said to have remarked, with an intensity of expression 
 perhaps incident to the occasion by way of intimating his regret 
 that he ever assumed the responsibility of taking charge of the 
 program, that he " wished to God Waymouth had sailed up the 
 Kennebec." No doubt the marked transition between yesterday 
 and to-day renders his enjoyment all the more gratifying. 
 Finally, by way of congratulation, I will suggest that if the rain* 
 which is threatening to fall every moment is suspended until the 
 exercises are fully concluded, we may all congratulate ourselves 
 upon the favorable auspices under which we are gathered. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to indulge in a lengthy speech on 
 this occasion. A word should be said by way of emphasizing 
 the especial significance of one of the prominent features of the 
 exercises. A cross of eternal granite has been erected at Pente- 
 cost Harbor as near as may be at the place where Captain Way- 
 mouth, three hundred years ago, first planted his rude cross as 
 the symbol of the occupation of this portion of the continent on 
 behalf of his majesty, the king of England. The cross is a 
 most significant symbol. It is the distinguishing feature of our 
 Christian civilization. It declares the fact that our civilization 
 recognizes and depends upon a personal God, who governs in the 
 affairs of men and without whose aid in building they labor in 
 vain who attempt to build. It does not represent any sect, or 
 creed, or theology, but it stands in its breadth and catholicity as 
 the great emblem of the Christian religion, of the civilization 
 that is founded upon its precepts and has been in the process of 
 steady, resistless development through infinite toil, struggle and 
 endeavor ever since the beginning of the Christian era. This 
 divine and sacred emblem, and that for which it stands, is the 
 great differentiation between our civilization and all civilizations 
 that preceded it and every other civilization that coexists with 
 it. How appropriate is it then that this great essential and 
 
 lit proved to be only a heavy mist. 
 
 25 
 
fundamental characteristic should be especially emphasized and 
 recognized upon this memorial occasion. 
 
 Great Britain, in the course of her long and illustrious history, 
 has accomplished many and great results in the achievement of 
 liberty and the elevation and civilization of the race ; but there 
 is no single act ever performed by that mighty nation which 
 involved consequences so vast and stupendous as the discovery 
 and the dedication of this great continent to the English speak- 
 ing people, the blessings of English liberty and a Christian civi- 
 ization. So great has been our success in the development along 
 parallel lines with our mother country that we are sometimes 
 too likely to forget the length and the breadth of our indebted- 
 ness to her. According to the genius of her institutions and her 
 form of government powers, and privileges, and rights of the 
 people may in a sense be said to emanate from the government, 
 the government being represented by the king. On the other 
 hand, according to the genius of our institutions, all powers, 
 rights and privileges, have their source in and derive their power 
 from the people, and the government that we have is the creature 
 of the people. 
 
 While our systems of government and our political institutions 
 differ somewhat radically in form, in substance they are in a 
 large degree the same. The petition of right, Magna Charta, 
 and the habeas corpus act, for which the English people 
 fought, bled and died, and to establish which, lives were lost and 
 treasure expended with little regard to their number or value, 
 are included in their essence, in many respects literally word for 
 word, in the Constitution of the United States, and the bill of 
 rights of every one of our forty -five States. ^ 
 
 We speak the same language, we read the same literature, our 
 people are secured by the same law and we have the same Chris- 
 tian religion. We think and speak and write in the same lan- 
 guage in which Shakespeare thought and spoke and wrote. The 
 grandest and most sublime expressions of the human emotions, 
 aspirations and desires that can be found in any language are 
 found in prodigal profusion in King James' version of the 
 English Bible. The essential and fundamental principles of the 
 common law, the security of the person and the inviolability of 
 his property were well-settled and well-recognized principles 
 
 26 
 
long before Waymouth made his adventurous voyage. They 
 are as essential and as potent in England as in America to the 
 conservation of every principle that makes a living truth of the 
 declaration that "all men are created equal ; that they are endowed 
 by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these 
 are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The right of 
 every man to worship God under his OAvn vine and fig-trees 
 according to the dictation of his own conscience, with no one to 
 molest him or make him afraid, which was the inspiring cause 
 that led the Pilgrims to brave the dangers of the ocean, and the 
 unknown hazards of the primeval wilderness inhabited by the 
 aboriginal savage, is equally the result in England and in Amer- 
 ica of the logical and inevitable development of the principles 
 which underlie and are fundamental to the institutions and civ- 
 ilization of each of these great countries. 
 
 It is eminently fitting and proper that Consul Keating should 
 be present upon this occasion as the representative of his Brit- 
 tanic majesty, and I hazard nothing in saying that I express the 
 universal sentiment of this magnificent audience when I say that 
 we have listened with the greatest pleasure to his cordial and 
 eloquent remarks. He has suggested that there might in the 
 future be a closer union between the two great countries result- 
 ing from an alliance that might be entered into. The same idea 
 was very effectively and ably presented by Mr. Smith who deliv- 
 ered the eloquent address at Allen's Island at the uncovering of 
 the memorial cross. 
 
 It has been the immemorial practice of the republic to avoid 
 entangling alliances of all kinds with foreign countries. This 
 has been our attitude from the beginning. It was inculcated by 
 Washington and has been reiterated from time to time by nearly 
 all of his successors. It has become the warp and woof of our 
 foreign policies. It would hardly be appropriate to discuss on 
 this occasion its wisdom or unwisdom, and whether or not it 
 might with advantage be now departed from. Whether by 
 treaty engrossed upon scroll of parchment, authenticated by 
 great seals and the signatures of great plenipotentiaries, these 
 two great English speaking people may or may not formally bind 
 themselves together for offensive or defensive purposes is not for 
 us here to-day material. It may perhaps be, whether it is or 
 
 27 
 
not I do not assert, but it may perhaps be, that these great inter- 
 national questions involving interests so vast and far reaching 
 will after all be governed and controlled in the great movement 
 of international development and progress by what General 
 Chamberlain has beautifully referred to as the higher law : 
 " There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how 
 we will." May it not well be in the summation of the results of 
 the ages, that the English speaking people, separate and inde- 
 pendent, yet at the same time heterogeneous and component parts 
 of one great civilization have in the end a common destiny, the 
 unity of a common and eternal purpose. 
 
 We believe that our form of government, and our conception 
 of what is essential to civilization, is the highest form and con- 
 ception yet discovered and made known to the sons of men. 
 If we are correct in this belief, why is it not then true that the 
 highest results throughout Christendom will not be attained until 
 this civilization shall be all prevailing? Until that time shall 
 come we cannot expect to see fully exemplified that saying of the 
 Scriptures " that God hath made of one blood all nations of men 
 for to dwell on all the face of the earth." It may well be then 
 whether we will or no or whether we agree or no that the devel- 
 opment of these two great branches of one great puissant people 
 will necessarily be upon parallel lines in perfect sympathy and 
 harmony with each other ; that we shall work together because 
 we are striving for the same end. So far as such expectations 
 may become a realized fact just so much nearer will we approach 
 the day when the principles of arbitration and universal peace, so 
 effectively referred to by Consul Keating, shall become the ruling 
 and controlling principles among all of the nations of the earth. 
 As these ideals shall be attained as time unfolds the future, so 
 shall the day dawn when, in the words of England's greatest poet 
 laureate, 
 
 "The war-drum throbs no longer, the battle flags were furl'd, 
 In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world." 
 
 Music by the band and singing by the school chil- 
 dren added to the interest of the occasion. 
 
 The benediction was by the Rev. E. M. Cousins 
 of Thomaston. 
 
 28 
 
Evening Exercises. 
 
 The evening exercises were held in Watts' Hall 
 which was prettily decorated. Over the center of 
 the proscenium was a red banner on which was 
 the inscription — " 300th Anniversary of Waymouth's 
 Voyage 1605-1905." On either side were American 
 and English flags. In the rear of the stage was a 
 bank of green and across it in red, white and blue 
 was the word — " Welcome." The front of the stage 
 was draped in colored bunting, while the same mate- 
 rial was festooned from overhead in the hall to the 
 balconies, which were banked in green and festooned 
 with bunting. Hon. Joseph E. Moore presided, and 
 introduced Hon. James P. Baxter of Portland, who 
 delivered the following address : 
 
 We have assembled to-day to commemorate the three hun- 
 dredth anniversary of the landing of George Waymouth upon 
 these shores, one of the first achievements in a succession of 
 enterprises which resulted in the English colonization of Maine, 
 and which, with due regard to historical sequence, we may prop- 
 erly view as of immeasurable importance, not only to the people 
 of Maine, but to the English speaking race, and I may add, to 
 the civilized world, for history is a web of varied woof, whose 
 glowing threads are directed by an unerring hand toward the 
 accomplishment of a beneficent end, and though we may often 
 but imperfectly discern the relations of parts in the splendid 
 design, which is ever expanding beneath our eye, we may be 
 sure that such relations exist and are not beyond human under- 
 standing. To deny this would be to install Chance in the seat 
 of Providence. 
 
 I have said that this is one of the first in a succession of enter- 
 prises which resulted in the English colonization of Maine. I do 
 not mean by this that the Maine coast had not been often visited 
 before Waymouth's voyage of 1605. The Portuguese Corte-real 
 
 29 
 
had visited it more than a hundred years before Waymouth, and 
 Kohl thinks that the natives whom he captured for slaves were 
 taken on or near the Penobscot. Be this as it may, the veil which 
 conceals this region from \aew for more than a century after the 
 discovery of North America by Cabot, is almost impenetrable. 
 Cabot's discovery, when it became known to Europe, soon awak- 
 ened the interest of adventurous spirits everywhere, especially in 
 Spain, Portugal, France and England. 
 
 Let us consider briefly what were the conditions existing for 
 some time succeeding Cabot's discovery. By the convention of 
 Tordesillas, which was held May 4, 1493, just after the return of 
 Columbus, at which a treaty was formed and amended thirteen 
 months later, the whole undiscovered Western Hemisphere was 
 assigned by the Pope to Spain and Portugal, the dividing line 
 being three hundred and seventy leagues west of the Cape de 
 Verde Islands. According to this partition, if it gave Spain any 
 right at all, Maine and the entire continent to the South was pre- 
 empted to her, and when in 1581, Portugal came under her 
 sway, the rights, if there were any which belonged to that king- 
 dom, passed to her, and these joint rights might be made to 
 cover the continents of America with adjacent islands from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, or South Sea, as it was popularly called 
 after the southern portion of it had been discovered by Magel- 
 haens from the Isthmus of Darien. It would seem that Spain 
 regarded the treaty of Tordesillas as of great importance to her 
 interests, certainly she affected to so regard it ; yet, according to 
 the law of nations, original discovery, conquest or purchase, 
 alone constituted a valid title to lands. There was no question 
 whatever among European nations that conquest extinguished 
 the rights of the inhabitants of conquered territory, and conquest 
 usually followed discovery ; nor were rights confined to the exact 
 limits of discovery. Discovery of a seacoast carried rights 
 inland, how far depended upon future possession. 
 
 Cabot's discovery of the North American continent in the 
 vicinity of Newfoundland, and his subsequent voyages along the 
 coast, constituted England's claim to the North American conti- 
 nent. This claim was vigorously contested especially by France, 
 who went so far as to base rights to territory, which she after- 
 wards named New France, upon discoveries made in her interest. 
 
 30 
 
These claims are set forth in a document in the Bureau of Marine 
 and Colonies, Paris, which has not as yet been printed ; though 
 similar claims have been often put forth. In this document the 
 writer bases priority of discovery and possession upon the voyage 
 of Verrazano in 1524, and claims that he took possession of the 
 continent for France from the thirty-third to the forty-seventh 
 degree of latitude, or from Cape Romain, S. C, to the northern- 
 most point of Cape Breton. He then proceeds to show continu- 
 ous explorations and colonial enterprises in the voyages made by 
 Cartier and Roberval from 1534 to 1542, of Alphonse in 1543, 
 and of Ribaut and Ladonniere in Florida in 1562 and 1564, and 
 brings in the futile enterprises of de la Roche in 1590, of de 
 Chastes and ChamjDlain in 1603, and the successful colonial under- 
 takings of Champlain in 1604 and later. Of course the discoveries 
 of Cabot as well as those of the Corte-reals and the colonial 
 venture of Fagundes,^ antedating the voyages of Verrazano, 
 Cartier, and others named, are wholly ignored. 
 
 John Cabot, on the 24th of June, 1497, discovered the North 
 American continent at a point which he named '■'•prima tierra 
 vista,'''' or first land seen, and set up a cross at some point on the 
 land he had discovered in token of possession, though, owing to 
 the disappearance of the " Chart and Solid Globe" which he 
 is said to have made, the exact spot is still in controversy, 
 some contending that it was Bonavista on the eastern coast of 
 Newfoundland ; others on the coast of Labrador, and still others 
 the eastern extremity of the island of Cape Breton, the legend 
 mentioned, changed to '•'•terram primum visam^'' appearing off this 
 island on the so-called Cabot map, which purports to have been 
 made by Sebastian Cabot, who accompanied his father on his first 
 voyage. This, of course, must be considered strong evidence in 
 favor of Cape Breton as Cabot's landfall. 
 
 Although Cabot's chart has disappeared, we have strong 
 evidence that the great navigator sailed along the coast of North 
 America on his second voyage in 1498, from the fifty-sixth degree 
 of north latitude to a point as far south as Cape Henry. This 
 evidence appears in the Spanish map of La Cosa, the pilot of 
 Columbus, which was made in the year 1500. On this map no 
 credit is given to Cabot, but English discoveries are recorded 
 
 1 Vide "D^couverte et Evolution Cartographique," etc. Harrisse, Vol. I, p. 25. 
 
 31 
 
thereon, as Cavo de Englaterra, Cape England, and Cavo de 
 Jorge, Cape George. As no European but Cabot bad visited the 
 coast prior to the making of this map, La Cosa must have been 
 indebted to him for his material ; but how, is the question. On 
 July 25th, 1498, Ayala, the Spanish minister in London, wrote to 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, and this letter has been preserved. In 
 it he says, after giving an account of the equipment of Cabot's 
 ships, " I have seen the map which the discoverer has made," and 
 further on in his letter, *' I do not now send the chart, or map- 
 mundi which that man has made." We see by this that Ayala 
 had this material, and we may reasonably conclude that through 
 him this chart of Cabot reached La Cosa, who was thus enabled 
 to delineate for the first time the North American coast. 
 
 Some writers have supposed that La Cosa simply attempted to 
 make an outline of the east coast of Asia, and that he attached 
 the names found on his map to points on that coast, but a careful 
 study of his map dispels this idea.^ While it is extremely disap- 
 pointing, as he runs his coast line for some unexplained reason 
 from east to west, instead of from north in a southwesterly direc- 
 tion, by turning the map so as to bring the coast line in the right 
 direction it becomes possible to distinguish prominent features of 
 the Atlantic coast. Who gave the map its nomenclature is still 
 unexplained, but the names Cape England and Cape George 
 seem to indicate that it could have been no other than Cabot 
 himself. From what has been said thus far, the claim of England 
 to original discovery of North America seems well established, 
 and the French claim that Verrazano made the first discovery of 
 the Atlantic coast in 1524, and the Spanish claim that Gomez 
 accomplished the same exploit the next year fall to the ground. 
 From the first, Spain's claim received but little consideration from 
 her rivals. Especially was the Pope's action toward her disre- 
 garded, and allusion having been made in his presence to his 
 brother of Spain's reliance upon this, the French king sarcasti- 
 cally remarked that he "should like to see the clause in our 
 Father Adam's will which bequeathed to him this fine heritage." 
 Fortunately, the ambitious projects which Spain had in other 
 directions, and the consequent wars which she was obliged to 
 
 1 A reproduction of a part of this map may be found in "Documentary History, 
 Maine," J. G. Kotfl, Vol. I, p. 151. 
 
 82 
 
maintain, as well as her predilection for more southerly ventures, 
 distracted her attention from large undertakings in the north. 
 The French, however, inspired by the success of Verrazano, and 
 more especially of Cartier in the St. Lawrence, became most 
 powerful rivals of England in the field neglected by Spain. 
 While there is reason to believe that Cabot really made the 
 periplus of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it has never been proved, 
 and to Cartier the honor of penetrating it and discovering the 
 great river of Canada must be accorded. Upon this discovery of 
 Cartier France particularly relied, and to establish herself in the 
 country discovered by that great navigator was a cherished 
 project, hence, as political conditions favored, she made several 
 attempts at colonization previous to Waymouth's voyage, all of 
 which were abortive. Her fishermen, however, kept up a constant 
 connection with the regions which they claimed, visiting from a 
 very early date the waters which wash the northern shores of the 
 continent, and plying their dangerous avocation with the fisher- 
 men of England, Spain, and Portugal, who also adventured there 
 for fishing and traflic with the savages. 
 
 During the sixteenth century the French appear to have prose- 
 cuted these fishing enterprises more vigorously than any of their 
 rivals, though Poi'tuguese and English vessels probably visited the 
 fishing grounds annually. Why, we may ask, were not colonies 
 established here during the century following the English 
 discovery ? To answer this question we must carefully study the 
 conditions prevailing in Europe and America during this long 
 period of preparation. During nearly the entire century from 
 the time of Ponce de Leon's landing on the shores of Florida in 
 1513, Spain was pushing her explorations and conquests in the 
 southern portion of the Western Hemisphere, and planting her 
 colonies wherever she could find a foothold. Her rivals witnessed 
 her triumphs in Peru, Chili, Mexico and elsewhere, and her 
 treasure shij)s returning home laden with the spoils of conquest. 
 It seemed as if this Iberian Colossus would never cease growing 
 in power. In EurojDe her aggressions were unbounded. The 
 most that France or England, both jealous of each other, could 
 do, was to check her aggressions as occasion offered, and to do 
 this kept them busy enough. It would have been imprudent to 
 establish expensive colonies so far away unless they could be 
 
 33 
 
protected from such a dangerous foe, to say nothing of the savage 
 tribes whose strength was unknown, and who would be sure to 
 molest them sooner or later. Neither France nor England were 
 in a condition during the entire century, and for some time after, 
 to maintain colonies in the New World, though attempts were 
 made from time to time by ambitious spirits of both nations to 
 found colonies, as by the French Roberval and Ribaut, and the 
 English Raleigh and Gilbert, but such ventures were hopeless 
 from the start. Another motive, too, had its effect in diverting 
 England's attention from colonial undertakings. This was the 
 hope of rivalling her Spanish competitor l)y reaching the treasures 
 of India by a northwest passage. This Avas a dream which 
 England cherished for a century, and which she made strenuous 
 efforts to accomplish. The story of these efforts forms one of the 
 most interesting chapters in her annals. 
 
 Spain does not seem to have troubled herself about this. She 
 had grown to even meditate the conquest and subjugation of 
 England herself, and deliberately prepared to accomplish her 
 purpose. Her real power, however, was greatly overestimated 
 by other nations, as much so as that of Russia in our own day, 
 and when her invincible fleet was bi'ushed from the sea by 
 Drake, the sham colossus shrank to its proper proportions. The 
 hope of a northwest passage to India also faded, and the Avay to 
 colonization began to open both to France and England. The 
 New England coast was exjjlored by Gosnold and Pring in 1602 
 and 1603, and Champlain made his way to St. Croix in 1604, to 
 establish a colony there. The tercentenary of the brave French- 
 man we celebrated last summer, and became familiar with the 
 story of the sufferings of his colonists, and how, when disaji- 
 pointed in the places he had chosen for a settlement, he set out 
 the next season to explore the Maine coast westward, he heard 
 from the savages the unpleasant news that Waymouth had pre- 
 ceded him. Whether they told him that Waymouth had here 
 set up a cross in token of English j)08se8sion we do not know, 
 but probably he heard of it before his departure, and this may have 
 been one of the reasons why he proceeded farther north with his 
 people, and finally founded Quebec, the Stadacone of his prede- 
 cessor, Jacques Cartier, which made possible a New France on 
 the North American continent, and transferred to the New 
 
 34 
 
World that irrepressible conflict which had long been waged in 
 the Old World. 
 
 To Waymouth^ and the men of his time the history of the three 
 centuries which stretch between them and us was a sealed scroll 
 which mortal hand could not unroll, but to us it lies open, with all 
 its wonderful events vividly depicted. Could it have been as 
 clearly revealed to them as it is to us, how marvelous it would 
 have seemed ! 
 
 As we glance over it, as it lies unrolled before our eyes, it is 
 indeed a storied page. We see Popham and his brave Devonshire 
 men, and follow them in their struggles through the terrible 
 winter of 1607 to their disastrous ending ; the picturesque Smith 
 as he explores the coast and names the country New England, 
 and the sober Pilgrims and stern Puritans striving amid terrors of 
 disease and death to found a new commonwealth, while to the 
 north, like a dark cloud portending danger, the PVench are gath- 
 ering to renew with them the^old struggle upon a new soil and 
 amid new conditions. 
 
 Nor is the struggle long delayed, for we soon see the painted 
 savages led by the couriers of Frontenac creeping in the gloom 
 of night upon the scattered settlements, and turn heartsick from 
 the terrible scenes of fire and blood which desolate the land, and 
 the hardships of the bereaved captives as they take up their 
 weary march for Quebec. 
 
 But the stout settlers are gathering for a conflict which cannot 
 end until the mastery of the continent is determined, and through 
 summers' heat and winters' cold we follow northward the cross 
 of St. George, and witness the savage warfare along the border ; 
 the advancing line of conquest ; the coming of the ships of Bos- 
 cawen; the red-coated troops of Amherst and of Wolfe; the sullen 
 retreat and surrender of the foe ; the fall of Louisburg and Quebec, 
 and the cross of St. George in place of the lilies of France. 
 
 An epoch has ended ; another is to dawn. Hardly have the 
 shouts of victory ceased when men again begin to gather for 
 
 • George Waymouth had been supposed to be a rough old mariner until I discov- 
 ered some years ago, in what is known as the King's Library in the British Museum, 
 a manuscript volume by him entitled the "Jewell of Artes," which he presented to 
 King James I, not long before his voyage to Maine. This volume had remained 
 nearly three centuries unnoticed, and I had it reproduced and bound precisely like 
 the original volume. A glance at it will show that the author was an educated 
 man and well versed in the .science of his time. 
 
 35 
 
strife ; men who have marched shoulder to shoulder in the past 
 are arming to meet each other on the battlefield. Why dwell 
 upon the details? Lexington, Bunker Hill, Yorktown, their 
 story is too familiar for repetition. The old flag of St. George 
 which our forefathers followed to victory, and which wherever 
 it goes carries assurance of law, order, enlightenment, of all that 
 makes for the highest civilization, is no longer here. A new flag 
 has taken its place, whose stars are symbols of hope and promise 
 to those who seek shelter beneath it. Upon the shores along 
 which the clumsy ships of Cabot and Verrazano and Gomez 
 sailed so long ago, this flag, unknown to Waymouth, floats from 
 snowy Maine to sunny Florida, that land of flowers where Ponce 
 de Leon dreamed of eternal youth. Westward, too, it floats to 
 that great sea upon which Magelhaens gazed with wonder, and 
 which the ships of England first traversed when Drake encom- 
 passed the world. Is it not a storied page, and have we not rea- 
 son to wonder when we look over this vast continent and behold 
 what has been accomplished by the English speaking race since 
 Waymouth here met the naked savages ? Perhaps I have led 
 you too far away from the event which we have gathered here 
 to celebrate ; but a contemplation of the past is fruitful in lessons 
 to guide our future. 
 
 To-day we stand upon this eastern shore of the continent 
 which the old voyagers supposed to be the outlying boundary of 
 India, and which they fondly hoped to penetrate by some water- 
 way to those cities of fabulous wealth described by Marco Polo. 
 England above all cherished this dream, and though bafiled in 
 this direction she turned eastward, and Lancaster, rounding the 
 Cape of Good Hope, at last opened the way for her to realize 
 her ambition. The great Orient, however, is still open to the 
 conquest of commerce. Steam and electricity have advanced far 
 in conqueiing space and time. Our flying trains and lightning 
 wires bring the east and the west nearer to each other than ever 
 Columbus or Cabot imagined them to be, and the great cities 
 which are springing up upon our Pacific shores will draw to 
 their marts the rich merchandise of Cathay of which our English 
 forefathers so long dreamed.^ 
 
 ' For two score years after Waymouth's memorable voyage a remnant of faith in 
 the possibility of a northwest passage to Cathay still lingered in England. Even 
 
 36 
 
Mrs. Ernestine Fish, of Boston, rendered a delight- 
 ful solo. 
 
 Miss Rita Creighton Smith, of Thomaston, the poet 
 of the evening, read the following beautiful poem: 
 
 WESTWARD TO ENGLAND ! 
 
 A new Ballad inciting Englishmen to Planting of the Western Lands, 
 upon example of the late prosperous Voyage to the North Parts of Vir- 
 ginia, by Captain George Waymouth in the good ship Archangel. 
 
 Now alle you English Gentlemenne 
 
 Who scorn to live at ease, 
 While there is fame for winnying 
 
 Upon the Oceane Seas : 
 You Mariners, whoo nothing dreade 
 
 When Winds blowe lustilie : 
 And all you honest Englishmen 
 
 Who waste in Povertie : — 
 Rise uppe and seek the Westerne lands, 
 
 As wee to you shall tell. 
 Who sailed with Captaine Waymouth 
 
 In the brave Archangelle. 
 
 By God's most gracious Mercie 
 
 We were not tempest tossed : 
 He brought us safe to harbour 
 
 The daie of Pentecoste. 
 And we founde a noble River 
 
 Embayed on either hand, 
 Which brought us up-warde, league on league, 
 
 Into a pleasaunt lande : 
 A Land enriched with fish and fieshe, 
 
 And excellent with Trees, 
 Where we were welle entreated 
 
 By kindlye savages. 
 We deeme that never Christians 
 
 Had trodde upon that shore, 
 And seen oure goodlie River 
 
 Or stately Hilles before. 
 
 Gorges, who, on account of his efforts to plant colonies upon our shores, earned 
 the title of Father of American Colonization, wrote, not long prior to his death, 
 which occurred in 1C47, that the savages reported to him that a people with shaven 
 heads and wearing long robes came to them annually from the west in great ships 
 bearing merchandise of various sorts to barter with them for furs, and that he 
 believed this strange people to come from Cathay. This story of the savages was 
 of course a fiction, but such a story was calculated to keep alive some faith in the 
 old dream. 
 
 37 
 
Shall England live imprison'd 
 
 Within the Narrowe Seas, 
 While there are Windes to beare us 
 
 To shores as faire as these ? 
 Or will you have it for a mocke 
 
 To them of France and Spaine 
 That Cabot, Gilberte, Raleigh, 
 
 Have found you realms in vaine ? 
 And gallante Martin Frobisher 
 
 Has marked the Pathe you take. 
 And you sail against the sun-sette 
 
 Behind the sayles of Drake ! 
 
 Up sayls, up sayls and vpestwarde ! 
 
 Nor leeve another age 
 Tour broade Landes lying fallow. 
 
 Your children's heritage. 
 Go forthe and wyn for Englande 
 
 A wider home, and teache 
 To Nations yet unthought on, 
 
 Oure comelie English speeche. 
 The lands of Golde and Pestilence, 
 
 Leave them to greedie Spaine, 
 And make your El Doradoe 
 
 In fieldes of golden grains. 
 
 And you shall finde a token 
 
 Whereby alle Christian men 
 Who reache our noble River 
 
 May knowe it once againe : 
 A token for the Frenchmen, 
 
 If from the Northe they come. 
 That we, the Menne of Englande, 
 
 Have marked that spot for home. 
 And if they dare uproote itte, 
 
 God turn it to their loss ! 
 Beside Saynte George's River 
 
 We left Sainte George's crosse. 
 
 Rev. Henry S. Burrage, D. D., of Togus, then 
 delivered the following address : 
 
 We are bringing to a close a memorable day in the annals of 
 this historic town. Waymouth's voyage to the coast of Maine 
 in 1605, his discovery of a river and his erection of a cross on 
 
 88 
 
REV. HENRY S. BURRAGE, D.D. 
 
the shore of this harbor as a token of English discovery and sov- 
 ereignty, are events of great significance in connection with the 
 beginnings of colonization in the New World. We do well to 
 celebrate such events, and the citizens of Thomaston have hon- 
 ored themselves under the lead of Hon. J. E. Moore, by fittingly 
 recognizing the place these events hold in a movement which 
 ultimately was to be crowned with success far surpassing the 
 fondest dreams of those hardy adventurers, who three hundred 
 years ago crossed the Atlantic, lured on by visions of empires yet 
 to be. The citizens of Rockland, once a part of Thomaston, 
 have joined in the services of the day with characteristic enter- 
 prise and enthusiasm. So also have the residents of other 
 neighboring communities, dwellers in the valley of the St. 
 George's River. All honor to those who on this day have laid 
 aside the duties belonging to their ordinary avocations, and have 
 devoted its hours to the consideration of events that carry us 
 baqk to the dawn of American colonial history ! 
 
 Queen EUzabeth died March 24, 1603. For England her 
 reign throughout was an era of expansion. Under the influence 
 of what Milton calls " the bright and bUssful Reformation," the 
 people of her realm had developed an ever deepening sense of 
 the boundless capacities and the solemn responsibilities of the 
 human soul. The result was the awakening of a spirit of lofty 
 endeavor. English merchants extended the trade of the king- 
 dom to many and distant lands. English seamen were busily 
 employed in visiting and exploring new countries, preparing the 
 way for the establishment of prosperous colonies. Especially in 
 the seaport towns were the people alive to the many opportuni- 
 ties which the New World afforded for the exercise of liberty- 
 loving. God-fearing, adventurous patriotism. ^ 
 
 This era of expansion had not closed when Elizabeth died ; 
 but it was drawing to a close. A struggle with the crown and 
 its adherents, in the interests of the rights of the people, had 
 become inevitable. Indeed the preservation of the life of the 
 nation, in a great civil war, would soon call into exercise all its 
 energies. But the time for this momentous struggle was not 
 yet. Meanwhile, the New World afforded an attractive field 
 for dominion-loving, dominion-seeking Englishmen. If earlier 
 attempts, under Raleigh and other adventurers of the closing 
 
 39 
 
years of the sixteenth century, had proved fruitless, added efforts 
 more wisely planned and more resolutely executed would show, 
 it was believed, better results. So the new century opened. 
 American colonization was still a fondly cherished dream. 
 Gosnold was on the New England coast in 1602. Pring was 
 here in 1603. Their reports, eagerly awaited and carefully 
 studied, aroused added interest in schemes opening the way to 
 worthy enterprise and, it was expected, to untold wealth. That 
 France had plans and purjjoses with reference to colonization 
 here was only a spur to English endeavor. Not the white lilies 
 of France, but the red cross of St. George, should betoken the 
 mastery on this side of the sea ; and there was certainly need of 
 haste if this great hope was to have its consummation. Raleigh 
 at this time was in prison on a charge of which it is now believed 
 he was guiltless ; but the Earl of Southampton, who had been 
 thrown into prison for supposed connection with the conspiracy 
 of Essex, ^nd had been released by the king in the summer of 
 1603, was deeply interested in new-world enterprises, and was 
 in a situation for embarking in them. Indeed, even while in 
 prison, he had aided in fitting out Gosnold's expedition. Not 
 long after the earl's release Pring returned from his successful 
 voyage. Associating with him his son-in-law, Thomas Arundell, 
 afterward Baron of Wardour, also Sir Ferdinando Gorges and 
 probably Sir John Popham, Chief Justice of England, the Earl 
 of Southampton commenced preparations for an expedition to 
 the American coast. 
 
 During these preparations Pring was engaged in a South 
 American enterprise, and the command of this new expedition to 
 the New England coast was given to Capt. George Waymouth 
 of Cockington, a small village, now a part of Torquay, on the 
 Devonshire coast. Until within a few years it was supposed that 
 Waymouth was a bluff, brave, resourceful mariner only. But 
 during some researches in London not long ago, the president of 
 the Maine Historical Society, Hon. James P. Baxter, discovered 
 in the king's library a manuscript volume presented by Way- 
 mouth to King James I, probably in the early years of his reign, 
 which bears abundant evidence to the fact that Waymouth was 
 proficient in mathematics, especially in geometry, and that he 
 was also an accomplished draughtsman. Doubtless he obtained 
 
 40 
 
his education on those " four prentize shipps " to which he refers 
 in some autobiographical remarks. Certain it is that in his 
 studies he gave attention not only to navigation, but to ship- 
 building and to the art of fortification. An apt scholar along 
 these lines, in the course of years he passed through all the vari- 
 ous offices on board of a ship, advancing from the lowest to the 
 highest. 
 
 When the seventeenth century opened, Waymouth was 
 already so well known as a navigator that in 1601 ( by the Wor- 
 shipful Fellowship of the Merchants of London trading into the 
 East Indies) he was given the command of an expedition for 
 the discovery of a northwest passage to the Orient. This expe- 
 dition, which sailed from the Thames May 2, 1602, was of course 
 a failure. The pathway to the Indies, as any school-boy now 
 knows, did not lie in that direction as men had long supposed. 
 The promoters of the expedition found no fault with Waymouth 
 because of the ill-success of the voyage, but on the contrary they 
 decided that " being very competent " he should have the com- 
 mand of a second expedition in the same quest. But this new 
 enterprise failed of realization. Having lost their venture in the 
 first expedition, these London merchants found their disappoint- 
 ments at length too strong for them. In a word their courage 
 failed, and the proposed second expedition was at last abandoned. 
 
 It was in this period of delay and suspense, it is thought, that 
 Waymouth prepared his "Jewell of Artes," the volume which 
 he presented to the king. Among those to whom James doubt- 
 less exhibited this volume, with its beautiful colored illustrations 
 and curious demonstrations, was the Earl of Southampton. 
 Certainly in one way or another the evidence was at hand that 
 Waymouth was admirably qualified for the command of the 
 expedition that the Earl and his friends had in contemplation, 
 and he was called to its direction. 
 
 Although we have a " Relation " of the events of the voyage 
 from the pen of James Rosier, who accompanied the expedition 
 and was its historian, we have no account of the preparations 
 that were made in the equipment of the vessel, or in the selec- 
 tion of the crew. Even the name of the vessel, the Archangel, 
 is not mentioned by Rosier, though it has come down to us 
 in the annals of a contemporary chronicler. Aside from 
 
 41 
 
Waymouth (the commander), Rosier, and Thomas Cam (the mate 
 of the Archangel), we have no mention of the men emjjloyed in the 
 expedition, twenty-nine in all. Most of them, as Rosier tells us, 
 were " neere inhabitants on the Thames." They were doubtless 
 such men as an expedition of that character would attract — 
 hardy seamen who were ready for any enterprise that promised 
 novelty and adventure. The vessel was made ready for the 
 voyage at Ratcliffe on the Thames, a hamlet east of London. 
 Ratcliffe highway, which connected the village with the great 
 English metropolis, was the Regent Street of London sailors, 
 and we may quite accurately picture to ourselves the scene at 
 the dock when the sailing day came. It was at the opening of 
 the season, Tuesday, the 5th day of March, and everything was 
 in readiness. In all probability among those assembled at the 
 dock were the Earl of Southampton, his son-in-law Thomas 
 Arxmdell, and possibly Sir John Popham. There were many 
 best wishes for the whole company, and many last words. 
 Then, about the middle of the forenoon, the lines were cast off, 
 strong English cheers went up from the crowd at the dock, and 
 the Archangel dropped down the stream, a fair wind in four 
 hours bringing the vessel to Gravesend, thirty miles below Lon- 
 don. Head winds kept the voyagers on the English coast until 
 the close of March. April 1, the vessel was six leagues south- 
 east of the Lizards, the most southern promontory of England, 
 On the 14th of April, Corvo, and afterwards Flores, islands of 
 the Azores group, were sighted. As the voyage continued 
 southerly winds prevailed, and Waymouth, unable to hold the 
 course he had purposed to take, was compelled to head the 
 Archangel further to the northward. On the 13th of May there 
 were indications of the near approach of land, and on the follow- 
 ing day a sailor at the masthead descried a whitish, sandy cliff, 
 west north-west, about six leagues distant, now supposed to be 
 Sankaty Head, the eastern extremity of Nantucket. Nantucket 
 is surrounded by shoals, and Waymouth, sailing in toward the 
 sandy cliff thus descried, soon found his vessel in peril. By his 
 discovery of the peril, however, he was able to rescue the Arch- 
 angel from her dangerous position. At once the prow of the 
 vessel was turned back, and standing off all that night and the next 
 day, Waymouth endeavored to make his way to the southward 
 
 42 
 
but the wind was contrary. Again, on the 16th of May 
 the Archangel was headed toward the land, but where the charts 
 located it, it was not to be found. At the close of the following 
 day, however. May 17, land was again discovered, but the wind 
 was blowing a gale, the sea was running high, and it was not 
 deemed safe to approach the shore. In the early morning it was 
 discovered that the land was that of an island " some six miles in 
 compasse " according to Hosier's estimate, and by noon the 
 Archangel was anchored on the north side of the island, and 
 about a league from it. This island, named by Waymouth St. 
 George, was Monhegan, as all writers concerning it agree. 
 Waymouth landed upon the island, but only for the purpose of 
 securing a supply of dry wood. Evidently Rosier was one of 
 the landing party. " From hence," he says, " we might discerne 
 the maine land from the west south-west to the east north-east, 
 and a great way ( as it then seemed, and as we after found it ) 
 vp into the maine we might discerne very high mountaines, 
 though the maine seemed but low land ; which gaue vs a hope it 
 would please God to direct vs to the discouerie of some good ; 
 although wee were driuen by winds farre from that place, 
 whither ( both by our direction and desire ) we euer intended to 
 shape the course of our voyage." 
 
 Have you ever had that view on a bright, beautiful day in 
 May or June ? I am aware that Hosier's words may have refer- 
 ence to the view of the coast one has from Monhegan, or from 
 the deck of the Archangel anchored a league north of the island. 
 In either case the scene is one of remarkable attractiveness. The 
 St. George's Islands are so far away as almost to blend with the 
 coast line ; and farther back, higher " vp in the maine," are the 
 Union and Camden Mountains, beautifully, darkly blue, conspic- 
 uous features of the landscape. The tourist on our coast in 
 summer, in his yacht or on some coastwise steamer, will find 
 himself looking with lingering delight upon a scene of such 
 singular charms. 
 
 The Archangel remained at her anchorage that night, and on 
 the following day, Whit-Sunday, because the vessel " rode too 
 much open to the sea and winds," Waymouth weighed anchor, 
 and brought his vessel " to the other Hands more adjoyning to 
 the maine, and in the rode directly with the mountaines." 
 
 43 
 
Strangely enough there have been those who have supposed that 
 the mountains Waymouth saw, and in the direction of which he 
 made his way to the other islands where he found a convenient 
 harbor, named by him Pentecost Harbor, were the White Moun- 
 tains. But this theory has found no advocates for many years, 
 though some in this time have unwittingly repeated old errors. 
 The fact is that the White Mountains are not visible from the 
 deck of a vessel in the position of the Archangel. The late Cap- 
 tain Deering of the steamer Lewiston, and the late Captain Den- 
 nison of the steamer City of Richmond, who for many j'ears 
 sailed along our coast from Portland to Machias, have left us this 
 testimony, that never in all these years had they seen Mt. 
 Washington from the waters north of Monhegan. Indeed only 
 at rare intervals, when the sky is exceptionally clear, can the 
 towering peak of Mt. Washington be seen from the high 
 ground on which the Monhegan lighthouse stands, and then 
 merely as a faint speck on the horizon ; while north of Monhe- 
 gan, " a great way vp into the maine," objects which no mariner 
 approaching our coast could possibly fail to notice, are the Cam- 
 den and Union Mountains, clearly, darkly outlined against the 
 sky. 
 
 The harbor in which Waymouth anchored the Archangel, and 
 which he called Pentecost Harbor, was an island harbor, and 
 Hosier's narrative furnishes abundant means for its identification 
 with the present St. George's Harbor. From Waymouth's 
 anchorage, a league north of Monegan, this harbor could be 
 reached by proceeding "along to the other Hands more adjoyn- 
 ing to the maine, " and " in the rode " directly with the monu- 
 tains which Waymouth had before him as he sailed in from his 
 anchorage north of Monhegan, as Rosier says. Moreover, it was 
 a harbor formed by islands, and could be entered from four 
 directions. This is true of St. George's harbor, and in this 
 vicinity of St. George's Harbor only. Indeed the endeavor to 
 identify the Pentecost Harbor of Rosier's "Relation" with 
 Boothbay Harbor, or with any other harbor on the neighboring 
 coast, fails to meet these and other requirements of Rosier's 
 narrative. 
 
 But the paramount purposes of the voyage were not to be met 
 by merely an approach to the coast. Wajonouth spent a few 
 
 44 
 
days in finding for himself and his men rest from the weariness 
 of the way thither; and then the work of exploration began. 
 In his shallop which had been put in order, and with nearly half 
 of his company, Waymouth proceeded in toward the main land 
 in order to discover its resources and possibilities for English 
 colonization, and soon found himself in a "great riuer. " Up 
 this river Waymouth passed irj his shallop, probably with the 
 tide and returning with the tide ; and then, in the middle of the 
 next forenoon, he returned to Pentecost Harbor with the joyful 
 announcement of this happy discovery. A week and more were 
 spent in added exploration among the islands and along the 
 coast. Then, on the 11th of June, with a favoring breeze and 
 tide, Waymouth brought the Archangel into the river which he 
 had discovered. In his "Relation," in glowing words Rosier 
 gives expression to the thoughts and feelings of the whole com 
 pany as from the high deck of the Archangel they viewed the 
 land on either side. They noted its pleasant fertility; looking 
 into its many "gallant coues" on the right and on the left they 
 beheld the numerous excellent places for docking and repairing 
 ships; and again and again the possibilities which the scene 
 ever3rwhere suggested deeply stirred and thrilled them. Many 
 of the company had been travellers in various countries and on 
 the most famous rivers, yet, says Rosier, "affirmed them not com- 
 parable to this they now beheld." Some who had been with Sir 
 Walter Raleigh in his voyage to Guiana, and had sailed up the 
 " Orenoque," were raised to loftier enthusiasm here. Others, who 
 were familiar with the Seine and Loire, the glory of France, 
 found here in this river of the New World features that were 
 unequalled in these renowned, historic rivers of Europe. " I will 
 not prefer it before our riuer of Thames, " wrote Rosier, " because 
 it is England's richest treasure ; but we all did wish those excel- 
 lent Harbours, good deeps in a continuall conuenient breadth and 
 small tide gates, to be as well therein for our countries good, as 
 we found them here (beyond our hopes) in certaine, for those to 
 whom it shall please God to grant this land for habitation ; which 
 if it had, with the other inseparable adherent commodities here 
 to be found; then I would boldly affirme it to be the most 
 rich, beautifull, large & secure harbouring riuer that the world 
 affoordeth. " 
 
 45 
 
In this highly colored sketch we may easily discover conta- 
 gious enthusiasm and easy exaggeration ; yet one passing up the 
 St. George's River at high water on a beautiful day in May or 
 June must be unresponsive to nature in her loveliest moods if he 
 should not find himself in sjonpathy with Wa3Tnouth and his 
 little company, their hearts thrilled with an ecstacy of delight as 
 they looked out upon the many objects of wondering interest 
 which their enraptured eyes beheld. 
 
 There have been those who supposed that the " great riuer " 
 which Waymouth discovered and ascended was the Kennebec, 
 and some have thought it was the Penobscot. But as one of 
 your own citizens. Captain George Prince, clearly demonstrated 
 nearly a half century ago, neither the Kennebec nor the Penob- 
 scot satisfies the points of identification which Hosier's "Rela- 
 tion " unmistakably presents. The breadth and depth of the 
 river, the character of the bottom, and especially the " very many 
 gallant coues " on either side, answer to these features of the St. 
 George's River, and to no other on our Maine coast. Moreover, 
 the direction of the river " as it runneth vp into the maine " is, as 
 Rosier says, "toward the great mountaines." All the way up the 
 St. George's River the Union and Camden Mountains are in full 
 view. What mountains will one have before him as he sails up 
 the Kennebec or the Penobscot? 
 
 Waymouth seems to have anchored the Archangel near the 
 ruins of Fort St. George, on the eastern bank of the river. On 
 the following day, in his light-horseman, with seventeen of his 
 men, he proceeded up the river to the " codde " or bay at the 
 point where the river trends westward, the site of Thomaston. 
 Here they landed, and ten of the party marched up into the 
 country toward the mountains back in the main, which they first 
 descried on approaching the land. At first these moimtains, as 
 Rosier says, seemed only a league away, but after they had gone 
 some distance, the weather " parching hot, " and all being " weary 
 of so tedious and laboursom a trauell," the order to face about 
 was given, the party returned to the boat and then to the 
 Archangel. 
 
 On the following day the work of exploration was continued 
 by an examination of that part of the river not previously 
 visited, a distance estimated by Rosier as twenty miles. The 
 
 46 
 
" beauty and goodness " of the land Rosier mentions in glowing 
 words, also the fact that on the return, at that part of the river 
 which trended westward, accordingly here at Thomaston, a cross 
 was erected as a token of English discovery and possession, a fact 
 commemorated here this afternoon by most appropriate services. 
 
 A few years ago, the late Hon. J. L. M. Curry, then United 
 States Minister to Spain, found in the library at Simancas a map 
 of the Atlantic coast line of the United States compiled in 1610 
 by a surveyor sent over to Virginia by King James for that pur- 
 pose. Into his hands, evidently, the king placed the earlier 
 maps of Gosnold, Pring, Wayraouth and others ; and from these, 
 and such personal information as he was able to gather, without 
 visiting (so far as is known) the New England coast, produced 
 a maj) surprisingly accurate. On it are indicated such marked 
 features of the landfall of our Maine coast as the Union and 
 Camden Mountains. A single mountain, west of the Kennebec, 
 may be intended to represent Mt. Washington as seen from 
 Small Point. But of especial interest, in connection with the 
 celebration of to-day, is the fact that on this Simancas map of 
 1610, the St. George's River, under its Indian name Tahanock, 
 is delineated with its characteristic features ; while at the very 
 point where, according to Rosier, Waymouth erected his token 
 of English discovery and possession, is the mark of a cross. 
 What is this cross but the cross which Waymouth erected, and 
 which he marked upon his "perfect geographicall map" — the 
 map made by Waymouth, as Rosier tells us in his "Relation." 
 Strong testimony in confirmation of such a supposition we have 
 in the fact that on the Simancas map Monhegan is designated "I 
 St. George. " This is the name given to Monhegan by Way- 
 mouth. " The first Hand we fell with," says Rosier, " was named 
 by us St. George's Island, " a name which later was transferred 
 to the group of islands nearer to the main land. 
 
 From this further exploration of the river, and this erection 
 of a cross in the interest of the country from which they came, 
 Waymouth and his men returned to the Archangel. The object 
 of the expedition, in a degree even far beyond their hopes, 
 had now been accomplished. They had discovered a bold coast, 
 "an excellent and secure harbour for as many Ships as any nation 
 professing Christ is able to set forth to Sea, " a river, which the 
 
 47 
 
all-creating God had made a highway over which the great 
 riches of the land might easily and safely be borne — a land 
 whose invaluable riches the Indians could "neither discerne, 
 vse, nor rightly esteeme, " and it was fitting that there should be 
 haste in returning to England in order speedily to bring this 
 information to the " Honourable setters foorth " of the expedition 
 which had for its ultimate end, as Rosier expressly states, "a 
 publique good and true zeal of promulgating God's Holy Church 
 by planting Christianity. " 
 
 Already, while at Pentecost Harbor, Waymouth had seized 
 five Indians, purposiag to take them to England with the design 
 of teaching them the English language and in this way of secur- 
 ing from them added information concerning their people, rulers, 
 mode of government, &c. The Archangel now dropped down 
 the river to its mouth, and then to Pentecost Harbor, where 
 water was taken aboard ; and on the sixteenth of June, the wind 
 being fair, and all preparations for the departure having been 
 completed, the Archangel set sail on her homeward voyage. 
 
 Over summer seas and full of the joy which success achieved 
 always awakens, establishing on the voyage confidential relations 
 with their Indian captives, Waymouth and his little company 
 made their wa}^ back to England, anchoring the Archangel in 
 Dartmouth Haven on July 18. Hosier's "Relation" of the voy- 
 age ends here. We are not told with what welcome the voyagers 
 were received, or upon whose ears the story of their adventures 
 first fell. But it requires no stretch of the imagination to bring 
 before us the scene as on that Thursday afternoon, about four 
 o'clock, the Archangel came to her anchorage, and the members 
 of the expedition Avere surrounded by their eager questioning 
 countrymen. Heroes they all were, but of what special, wonder- 
 ing interest were the five Indians — the dusky aborigines of the 
 American forests — whom Waymouth had brought with him as 
 specimens of the inhabitants of the New World ! It was a thrilling 
 narrative that was told, we may well believe ; and it was told 
 graphically on the deck of the Archangel, or later in the lounging 
 places of the town where the sailors rehearsed the more promi- 
 nent details of the voyage. 
 
 How long the Archangel remained in Dartmouth Haven we 
 are not told. Rosier mentions no other harbor or harbors in 
 
 48 
 
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connection with the rettirn of the expedition to England ; and it 
 seems probable that leaving the vessel in Dartmouth Haven he 
 hurried to London to place before the promoters of the voyage 
 the tidings which they so eagerly awaited. According to Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges, Waymouth brought the Archangel into the 
 harbor of Plymouth, where Gorges was in command as governor. 
 This must have been after the arrival at Dartmouth Haven, for 
 Rosier tells us this was the first " harbour in England" entered by 
 the Archangel on her return. While the Archangel was in 
 Plymouth harbor, Waymouth delivered into the care of Sir Fer- 
 dinand© Gorges three of the Indians. According to Gorges 
 this was a fact of prime importance in connection with his New 
 World colonization schemes ; for in his " Briefe Narration, " 
 referring to the Indians who came into his possession at this 
 time, he says, " This accident must be acknowledged the means 
 under God of putting on foot and giving life to all our planta- 
 tions. " With ever deepening interest Gorges listened to the 
 answers these Indians gave to his eager questionings. "The 
 longer I conversed with them, " he says, " the better hope they 
 gave me of those parts where they did inhabit, as proper for our 
 uses ; especially when I found what goodly rivers, stately islands 
 and safe harbors those parts abounded with, being the special 
 marks I levelled at, as the only want our nation met with in all 
 their navigations along that coast. And having kept them full 
 three years, I made them able to set me down what great rivers 
 ran up into the land, what men of note were seated on them, 
 what power they were of, how allied, what enemies they had 
 and the like. " 
 
 We have no record of Waymouth's return to London and of his 
 interview there with the promoters of the expedition. Arundell had 
 been elevated to the peerage, and only a month after the return of 
 the Archangel he was appointed colonel of an English regiment 
 raised for service in Holland. It is probable, therefore, that he 
 was now interested in other enterprises than those on this side of 
 the sea. The Earl of Southampton, however, continued his inter- 
 est in American colonization, but in connection with the London 
 Company of Virginia, in whose second charter his name stands next 
 to those of the high officers of state ; and he remained at the head 
 of its governing board until the second charter was taken away. 
 
 49 
 
But the influence of these men, so far as English interest in 
 colonization on our New England coast is concerned, was more 
 than made good by the influence of Sir John Popham, Chief 
 Justice of England. Indeed he seems to have had some part in 
 the Archangel's quest, for on the return of the vessel two of the 
 ndians seized by Waymouth were turned over to him. By 
 what he learned from these men of the New World his interest 
 in western colonization was greatly intensified. With Sir Fer- 
 dinando Gorges he was soon busy with plans for added explora- 
 tion, and in 1606 each dispatched a vessel destined for the New 
 England coast. That fitted out by Sir John Popham, on which 
 were two of Waymouth's Indians, was captured by the Spaniards 
 and the venture was lost. Gorges' vessel, however, with which 
 went Captain Pring, succeeded in reaching the coast, and Pring 
 returned bringing " with him the most exact discovery of the 
 coast," says Gorges, " that ever came to my hands." 
 
 Why the command of neither of these two vessels sent out in 
 1606 was given to Waymouth, we can only conjecture. Higher 
 ambitions seem to have seized him after his return in 1605, and 
 it is probable that he sought service under the crown. If so his 
 seeking was unsuccessful, and his later career was one of almost 
 continual disappointment. But Pring's expedition confirmed 
 the impressions concerning the New World which were made 
 upon Waymouth's company. Accordingly Sir John Popham 
 did not lose heart on account of the disaster that befel his vessel, 
 and the Popham colony in 1607, in which the Chief Justice had 
 so prominent an interest, followed close upon Pring's return. 
 
 By this colony the results of Waymouth's expedition were 
 made secure. Here at Thomaston and on one of the St. George's 
 islands — probably Allen's Island — Waymouth had established 
 an English claim to right of possession. No time was lost in 
 making good that claim by the planting of colonists on the New 
 England coast. England — not France, not Spain — was to 
 have dominion here. The failure of the Popham colonists to 
 retain their hold at the mouth of the Kennebec — great as that 
 failure was — did not silence England's claim to possession. Yet 
 Royalist interests, fostered by Sir John Popham, Sir Ferdi- 
 nando Gorges and others alUed to the fortunes of the Stuaii; 
 dynasty, were not to obtain any strong foothold here. The 
 
 50 
 
Puritan was already looming large in English concerns. Elizabeth 
 had sought to hinder his rise, but the emphasis which Puritanism 
 gave to the concerns of the soul made such a profound impres- 
 sion upon the great body of the English people that the result 
 was the awakening of that personal consideration of duty 
 and destiny which developed speedily throughout the land a 
 strong, stalwart national force. Says Green, in his " History of 
 the English People, " " Their common calling, their common 
 brotherhood in Christ, annihilated in the mind of the Puritans 
 that overpowering sense of social distinctions which character- 
 ized the age of Elizabeth. There was no open break with social 
 traditions; no open revolt against the social subordination of 
 class to class. But within these forms of the older world beat 
 for the first time the spirit which was to characterize the new. 
 The meanest peasant felt himself ennobled as a child of God. 
 The proudest noble recognized a spiritual equality in the poorest 
 ' saint. ' " 
 
 Already the Royalist party in England, in relation to the Puri- 
 tan party, Avas to see repeated the experience of the Forerunner, 
 "He must increase, I must decrease." Emphatically was this 
 true here in New England, whither came the Pilgrims in 1620, 
 and the Puritans in 1629, followed for a decade by thousands of 
 those who saw on this side of the sea the opportunity for build- 
 ing a better England founded upon those ideals which had come 
 to have overmastering force, but for the realization of which old 
 England did not present the same ground of reasonable 
 expectation. 
 
 It is the chief significance of this celebration that it records, 
 and makes prominent, the fact that here at Thomaston and on 
 one of the St. George's islands was the earliest known English 
 claim to the right of possession on the New England coast — a 
 claim to which expression was given by the erection of a cross. 
 Nor was it made any too soon. Waymouth left Pentecost Har- 
 bor on his return voyage June 26 (N. S.). De Monts, whose 
 little colony at St. Croix Island had experienced terrible suffering 
 during the winter and had lost nearly half its number by death, 
 had now determined to seek another location for settlement, and 
 June 18 (N. S.) — therefore eight days before Wajnnouth set 
 sail for England — the French explorer, in a vessel of fifteen 
 
 51 
 
tons, with about as many in his party as Waymouth numbered 
 in his company on the Archangel, set forth on an expedition 
 down the coast. No mention of English adventurers in the 
 same neighborhood is made until de Monts' return, when having 
 reached the Kennebec on July 29, his chronicler, Champlain, 
 mentions the fact that while at the Kennebec information was 
 received from an Indian concerning a ship ten leagues away, 
 whose men had killed five Indians under cover of friendship; 
 and Champlain adds that from a description of the men on the 
 vessel " we concluded they were English. " Plainly the refer- 
 ence was to the Archangel. As Waymouth did not set sail from 
 Pentecost Harbor on his return to England until more than a 
 week after de Monts left St. Croix Island on his exploration of 
 the coast, there was an opportunity, it would seem, for a meeting 
 of the French and English explorers. In the presence of repre- 
 sentatives of the two nationalities on the coast at the same time, 
 it would also seem as if France would be ready to dispute the 
 claim of right of possession which Waymouth had here asserted 
 in England's behalf. But happily de Monts, in passing along 
 the New England coast as far as Cape Cod, found no place suit- 
 able for colonization, as it seemed to him, and withdrew his 
 colony from St. Croix Island to Port Royal. 
 
 It was not a matter of little importance, therefore, that Way- 
 mouth erected his cross here and that de Monts retired across 
 the Bay of Fundy. It is true there were later attempts on the 
 part of the French at Mt. Desert and Castine to secure a foot- 
 hold on the New England coast, but their efforts were unsuccess- 
 ful ; while England from this time on strengthened her grasp 
 upon this fair western domain, and let it be known in language 
 that could not be misunderstood that she intended both to have 
 and to hold the prize she had seized. 
 
 At the celebration at Calais and St. Croix Island a year ago, 
 commemorating the three hundredth anniversary of de Monts' 
 settlement in 1604, the French Consul General at Montreal, in 
 an address, pathetically remarked, " It has been the lot of France 
 to scatter many fruitful seeds the benefits of which others have 
 reaped." The fact is that in the early history of American col- 
 onization, France not only had seized but held a commanding 
 position upon the continent. The St. Lawrence river, discovered 
 
 52 
 
by Gartier, afforded easy access to the valley of the Mississippi 
 by way of the Great Lakes. But England, advancing from the 
 Atlantic coast, was even more fortunate. The stars in their 
 courses fought on her side, it is true; but there were resolute 
 purpose, strong determination, and unconquerable energy on the 
 part of our English ancestors to the end that English laws, 
 English traditions and English ideas should here become fruitful ; 
 in other words that from the seed here sown, they, not others, 
 should reap. Because of what they did, we have a New England 
 on these western shores. 
 
 Have we still their spirit ? Certainly, it will little avail us to 
 build monuments as memorials of great deeds accomplished in 
 the long ago unless we cherish the spirit that enabled our fathers 
 to do these deeds. May this celebration, by recalling the begin- 
 nings of our colonial history, beget in us all better desires and 
 nobler purposes — desires and purposes which shall make us 
 more worthy citizens of this great and prosperous republic. 
 
 Mr. Baxter had brought to Thomaston his fac- 
 simile copy of Waymouth's " Jewell of Artes," 
 referred to by Dr. Burrage in his address, and at the 
 close of the exercises of the evening this beautiful 
 volume was exhibited to many who lingered to exam- 
 ine its interesting pages. 
 
 The day throughout was one of very great interest. 
 This brief account should not close without a refer- 
 ence to the delightful informal reception given to the 
 guests of the day in Thomaston homes, and especially 
 by Dr. and Mrs. J. E. Walker at their beautiful colonial 
 residence. The spacious rooms, fragrant with the 
 scent of innumerable roses and pinks, and bright 
 with English and American flags, the brilliant uni- 
 forms of the naval officers mingling with the lighter 
 colors of the dresses of the ladies, presented a most 
 attractive picture. 
 
 53 
 
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