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ADDFiESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 , - ^ NEW-EK GLAND SOCIETY 
 
 OF SOUIH-tAROLLNA, 
 
 u 
 
 OK THK 
 
 22(1 DECEMBER. 1820. 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Landing at Plymouth 
 
 Off THE 
 
 ^^^VESTORS OF JVEfF EJ^GLdJ^T). 
 
 Bv WILLIAM CRAFTS, Esc^.-A Membes. 
 
 I love thee, thou Land of ihe rocks and the mountains, 
 Tho' the snows that invest thee have exiled the vine ; 
 
 I love thee, tho' icicles bar up thy fountains. 
 For still thro' the coldness of these dost thou shine. 
 
 <(riEiarMtoti : 
 
 PRINTED FOR THK SOCIETY: 
 By Itiumas B. Steplitns, No 8, Tradd-street. 
 
 1S2Q. 
 

 'lOb%S>S' 
 
 '^^ 
 
/IYk. 
 
 79 
 
 GENERAL SULLIVAN. 
 
 OF 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 THIS LITTUQ JBFFOBT i^ IMSCULBED*. 
 
</ 
 
 n^ 
 
 
\DDRESS. 
 
 ON this day, two hundred years ago, a haiidful 
 of individuals landed, at an inclement season, on an 
 unknown and barren coast; in the land of pestilence, 
 on the territory of the Savage. Fraud or accident 
 had diverted the course of their voyage, and they 
 were placed beyond the protection, weak as it was, 
 of European charters. Neither the Church nor the 
 State accorded them the privilege of monopoly or of 
 participation, and they landed with no better plea 
 than their necessities, and no protector but their God. 
 
 Providence was not unmindful of them. That 
 they might with scrupulous honesty occupy the soil, 
 its former inhabitants had perished by disease, or 
 wandered into exile — that they might in infancy be 
 secure from Indian warfare, the natives had been 
 withdrawn from the sea shore — and lest famine 
 should involve them in early ruin, the scanty grana- 
 ries of the Savage became the treasure trove of the 
 stranger. The soil was rugged and mountainous, 
 indicating the labor and perseverance which its cul- 
 ture required. It had not the baneful reputation of 
 gold and silver mines, the cheap ruin of adventurers 
 and nations. It was primitive and virginal, like the 
 €nows that invested it. Scarce a path on its surface 
 

 
 'but the track of the hunter and his game — scarce a 
 sound in its forests but the rude chorus of the winds. 
 
 Well may we ask what worldly inducement im- 
 pelled this little band of men, women and children 
 away from their friends and their home, in a little 
 barque, across the perilous ocean, to an ice-bound 
 rocky shore. Was it ambition ? that master passion 
 of the human breast, that knows not difficulties in 
 the pursuit of power — To charge them with ambi- 
 tion were to accuse them of lunacy. Was it Avarice, 
 that Cameleon curse of our nature, which assimilates 
 us to all climates and all suffering in pursuit of gain ? 
 They had no means to traffic, and no arms to plun- 
 der. Were they convicts, doomed to expiate among 
 the savage their sins among the civilized ? Tbey 
 had been sinned against, not sinned themselves. It 
 was that sense of wrong, which he, who feels it at all, 
 feels most acutely and forgives never — It was that 
 species of oppression, w^hich he who endures all else 
 never will endure, that gave birth to this desperate ' 
 and heroic enterprize. You may invade a man's 
 opinions, one by one, and disposess him of them all, 
 until you interfere with his religious sentiments and 
 his rights of conscience. You then strike a spring, 
 whose elasticity increases with its pressure, rallying 
 every other power in the system and quickening the 
 motion of them all. You provoke his love of truth — 
 his regard for early impressions — his sense of duty — f 
 his hopes of happiness — his pride — his zeal — his ob- 
 stinacy — his chagrin and his resentment. He, who 
 would willingly encounter these, knows nothing of 
 the lessons of history. It appears to be the decree 
 of God, that Religious persecution shall avail iss 
 
authors only shame and remorse, while it endows its" 
 victims with extraordinary courage, ensures them tlie 
 Divine protection, and fits tiiem for heroic suffering 
 and achievment. 
 
 It matters not whether Princes regard faith as con- 
 nected with loyahy. If they look upon a sectary as 
 a traitor, they will soon find in him a rebel. The 
 fire that assails the temple will soon find its way to 
 the palace " Proximus ardet." 
 
 To the world, enlightened as it is with regard to 
 the terrible eftects of religious dissention, it cannot 
 but appear surprizing, how at a moment when the 
 infallibility of the Catholic Church was so generally 
 denied and deprecated in Europe — at such a mo- 
 ment, when the mind was on the stretch of enquiry 
 to supply the chasm thus created in its faith — 
 even then a new church discipline among the 
 Protestants should be regarded as perfect, and en- 
 forced by the terrors of the secular arm. Nor can 
 we look without pain upon the humihating fact, that 
 questions such as these, whether a ring should be 
 given in marriage — whether a surplice should be 
 worn in preaching — whether in saying the Lord's 
 prayer, we should say, " Father Our," or " Our 
 Father," have stained in civilized countries the 
 scaffold with innocent blood, and enlisted murder in 
 the cause of bigotry. 
 
 Yet out of events, apparently insignificant, and by 
 humble and simple means does the Almighty mould 
 the destinies of the earth, defying and defeating 
 human sagacity in the march of omnipotent wisdom. 
 Had Hooper been allowed to dispense with his gown» 
 
8 
 the Pimtang might have been retained in the body 
 of the Church, and had Cromwell been allowed to 
 embark for America, the world had not witnessed the 
 crimes and the triumphs of that marvellous hypocrite^ 
 
 The Ancestors of New-England, driven from theii* 
 home by the persecution of l.aud, after a short resi- 
 dence in Holland, where rehgious and political dis- 
 cussions prevailed with much force and freedom, em- 
 barked for America, in the hope of enjoying reli- 
 gious liberty, if not at home, yet under the authority 
 of their Monarch. They asked his licence to live in 
 an uncomfortable wilderness crowded with dangers,, 
 but so obnoxious were their doctrines, and so slighted 
 their loyalty, that they were refused protection, and 
 only promised indifference. Fhey came however, 
 und the treachery of the Dutch, who had furnished 
 them a refuge, caused them to be landed far north of 
 their original destination. 
 
 Houseless, frozen, miserable outcasts ! why not 
 forsake your hopeless enterprize, and leave to the 
 great men of the earth the costly office of planting 
 Colonies, enlightening the Heathen, and taming the 
 Savage. 
 
 "It was not" to use their own language "with them 
 us with common men, whom small things could dis* 
 courage or small discontents cause to wish to be 
 again at home." They formed on board of their ship 
 a plan of civil and political government, a strict and 
 ■"sacred bond to take care of the good of each other 
 and the whole," and disembarked with a fearless in- 
 trepidity, inspired by conscience and justified by 
 1 leaven. 
 
9 
 
 If the Indian was friendly for a while, the climate 
 made war upon thcni, and ere they could plant tiie 
 earth with seed for the living, they opened it to f nd 
 graves for the dead. They were sorrowful but not 
 disheartened, adhering to their purpose with an in- 
 tense steadiness of soul, which almost excites the be- 
 lief, that an Angel had revealed to them the glories 
 of their destiny. They endured neglect and oppres- 
 sion, the awards which the world in its charity and 
 its discernment decrees to merit and to genius. Ln- 
 thinldng world ! how often thy wrongs are sources of 
 triumph, and thy honors, themes of ridicule. A strong 
 aftection among themselves — an unbending reliance 
 on Providence — patience in suffering — perseverance 
 in toil — strict honesty, and benevolent regard to- 
 wards the Indians were their characteristics. By the 
 aid of these, and the rigid purity of their manners, 
 altho' peaceable, they conquered a country-althougli 
 unambitious, they founded an empire — although ob- 
 scure, they shall be held in honored remembrance. 
 
 The Colonies planted in various parts of the con- 
 thient may be regarded as adjective, leaning for sup- 
 port on a religious or a political power. The Pil- 
 grims of Plymouth stood by themselves. Other set- 
 tlements, having royal copartners and ecclesiastical 
 license, faded away and withered. These were re- 
 fused a charter from the State — The Church regard- 
 ed them as heretics, but their rights were embraced 
 in die line of Virgil, " Deus nobis hoec otia fecit." 
 
 Soon after the discovery of this Continent, if dis- 
 covery be a proper term, the Pope, with a generosity 
 that cost him nothing, gave one half of its territory 
 to the King of Spain, and the other to him of 
 Poriugal. The amiable monarch of France, who 
 
 B 
 
3© 
 could not, as lie said, discover tliese legacies hi 
 Adaoj's will, found a clause in iiis own favor, entitl- 
 ing him to a share, and Henry the oth, who coveted 
 every thing, was alive to the charms of foreign em- 
 pire and the honor of extending the true church. — 
 The Dutch claimed dominion over a part, but tiieir 
 autiiority soon melted into allegiance to their neigh- 
 bors, and their claims disappeared. These confiict- 
 itis, titles all agreed in this particular, that they were 
 or pretended to be under royal and religious grants. 
 h^t us examine the rights which they conferred. — 
 The Pope as the head of tlie Church, gave away the 
 territory to the Spanish and Porrugueze as the earliest 
 Chnsiian Discoverers. The gift was invalid and the 
 reason was untrue. Tiie Pope had no right in the 
 premises and all the discoverers of tills Country 
 Vi'cre Italians. It was destined for anotiier Rome, 
 and, if there had not been a misnomer in our christ- 
 ening we should all have been Romans. The right 
 of discovery appertains to that only which has been 
 lost, or which is new. An inhabited country can 
 iie_ver be the subject of such a conveyance. Every 
 grant accorded in Europe was consequently void 
 and worthless for any rigiit, that it conveyed. The 
 unchartered Pilgrims of Plymouth therefore, had as 
 ample and as just a title to this country as any body 
 in.the world, not excepting the Savages themselves. 
 For it can be easily shown that the territorial rights 
 of the Savage were limited in their extent, and infe- 
 rior in their order to those, which the Pilgrims de- 
 vived from God, and nature. 
 
 It is not true as a general position, that the soil of 
 this Coofinent ever belonged to the Savage. He had 
 mer^ < ■ e right to hunt in its forests, with this addi- 
 tion, thai in tiie parts of the soil cultivated and im- 
 
H 
 proved by hiin, or occupied v,it\\ that design, he had 
 an absolute estate. 
 
 it is a rule, that the capacity to improve gives the 
 best i"ight to enjoy. It is also a rule, thai wiien (lie 
 exercise of one right becomes incompatible uitli the 
 due use of another, that \\'^iich is least imporidnt 
 shall be discontinued. Now, what are wc to believe 
 was the design of the Almighty in placing man ujjon 
 the earth ? That he might draw forth its latent re- 
 sources — enlighten its hidden recesses — cover ii with 
 smiling harvests — increase its capacities of produc- 
 tion — analyse its subvStance, and adorn its surface 
 with mansions of comfort and happiness, asylums 
 for misfortune, nurseries for literal ure, and temples 
 for piety. And wherefore did he give to hinf the 
 magnificent Ocean ? That he might traverse it for 
 health, for pleasure, for riches, for learning, for liberty, 
 for conquest and for glory. 
 
 The culture of the earth is that toil for bread, which 
 the Scriptures ordain. Shall the hunter stand at the 
 mouth of the forest and oppose the entrance of civi- 
 lized man ? Shall tiie Savage lift his tomahawk 
 against the decree of the Almighty, and forbid the 
 gospel to enlighten the heathen, or the wilderness to 
 blossom like the rose ? Shall territories, fitted to sus- 
 tain thousands in polished life, be the exclusive do- 
 main of a few indolent stragglers ? As well mi.y the 
 fisherman stand up in his canoe, and call the (;ctaii 
 his ! The escape of a deer disappoints the hunter at 
 once of his prize and his empire ; and if the fish 
 elude hishne, wiiere is the sovereignty of the angler? 
 The agriculturist is entitled to as nmch of the fiiest 
 as he needs. The chace miist yield. to the |!l<. :gh. 
 Iffiic In'ian will not change hi ha' 'ts. he Jti. alter 
 his abode, VVheu the fox becomes tame he uiaf 
 
n 
 
 abiHe in the citv, and when the Indian condescends* 
 to be civilized he may abandon the woods. We take 
 without ceremony the possessions of a lunatic, hold- 
 ing them in trust for his reviving reason. 
 
 These sentiments may be perceived to indicate tlie 
 extinction of the Indic>;i race. And w liy should not 
 that happen; nations are not immoitd. Greece — 
 beloved Greece, whose language is the nomenclature 
 of nearly all that we know — whose institutions were 
 the models of nearly all that we enjoy — whose heroes 
 the portraits of nearly all that we admire — Greece 
 is no more — her land is prostituted by the foot of the 
 Turk and the song of Lord Byron. 
 
 Rome, after all her noble lessons and examples 
 of public spirit — after the production of her immor- 
 tal Code — after blessing the world with Cicero, 
 enough of himself to embalm a world — after her 
 magnificent achievements in the beautiful arts, did 
 not the Barbarians destroy her ? 
 
 And shall ignorance alone stalk in triumph on the 
 earth, and shall not the Savage yield in his turn to 
 the tide of civihzation — What is there to redeem 
 these from the mortality of nations ? In the long 
 lapse of ages what have they done for the improve- 
 ment of mankind ? Nothing. What for the culti- 
 vation or adornment of the earth ? Nothing. What 
 for their own amelioration or happiness ? Nothing. 
 What is their occupation p The chace — What their 
 delight? Indolence. What their warfare ? Strata- 
 gem. What their faith ? Duplicity. What are they ? 
 What they were. V^ hat will they be ? What they 
 are. Will they never improve ? No, never. The 
 Sun and the Stars, the sentinels of Heaven, watching 
 human improvements on earth have scarcely detected 
 them in a solitary etfurt. To assign to tiie indiaos 
 
V3 
 an indetinite longevity would be to arrest the molloH 
 and mutability of Earth and its empires. Yet in their 
 history there will remain redeeming virtues. Many 
 a Monarch might covet the noble constancy of Mon- 
 tezuma, and the pure fame of Massassoit — and many 
 a maiden cnmlate the sweet acts of Pocahontas. 
 
 The Pilgrims of Plymouth formed the nucleus 
 around which ulterior accessions grew, and CApand- 
 ing became the Colonies of New-England. 1 hey 
 purchased from the Indians their rights, real or imagi- 
 nary, and James the First came with tardy reluctance 
 into the confirmation of a settlement, whose birth 
 had been obnoxious to him. Their religious inde- 
 pendence soon led them to political inquiries. How 
 difficult it is to stay the hand, that lifts but half a veil. 
 Curiosity is like light, once give it admission and it 
 penetrates every where. Charles the First called the 
 Plymouth Colony a factious set. They began it is 
 true, with denying hereditary right unless it were 
 accompanied by hereditary talents and hereditary 
 virtue ; and whether we look to Virginia or New- 
 England, we find the same spirit and the same de- 
 claration of the right of self-government in the Colo- 
 nists themselves. 
 
 It required little sagacity to discover, that the 
 British yoke would be borne no longer than it was 
 comfortable, being regarded as an ornament, and 
 never suspected to be a chain. It was accordingly 
 broken into atoms, and the lightning, that destroyed 
 it while it revealed the Independence of America, 
 awoke the sleeping lions of liberty throughou t the globe. 
 
 If, on this day, after the lapse of two centuries, one 
 of the Fathers of New-England, released from the 
 5leep of deatli, could re-appear on earth what would 
 
14 
 
 Jje his emotions of joy and wonder! In lieu of a, 
 wilderness, here and there interspersed with solitary 
 cabins, where life was scarcely worth the danger of 
 preserving it, he would behold joyful harvests, a 
 population crowded even to satiety — villages, towns, 
 cities, states, swarming with industrious inhabitants, 
 hills graced with temples of devotion, and vallies 
 vocal with the early lessons of virtue. Casiing his 
 eye on the ocean, \>hich he past in fear and trembling, 
 he would see it covered with enterprizing fleets re- 
 turning with the whale as their captive, and the 
 wealth of the Indies for their cargo. He would be- 
 hold the little colony wbicli he planted, grown into 
 gigantic stature, and forming an honorable part of a 
 glorious confederacy, the pride of the earth and the 
 favorite of Heaven, lie would witness with exulta- 
 tion the general prevalence of correct principles of 
 government and virtuous habits of action ; how 
 gladly would he gaze upon the long stream of light 
 and renown from Harvard's classic fount, and the 
 kindred springs of Yale, of Providence, of D irt- 
 mouth and of Brunswick. Would you fill his bosom 
 Avith honest pride, tell him of Franklin, who made 
 the thunder sweet music, and the lightning innocent 
 fire-works — of Adams, the venerable sage reserved 
 by heaven, himself a blessing, to witness its blessings 
 on our nation — of Ames, whose tongue became, and 
 has become an Angel's — of Perrv, 
 
 " Blest l)v his God with ont- iilustnous day, 
 A Rlize of Glory, <.re lie p, ssed a\VH\ •" 
 
 And tell him. Pilgrim of Plymouth, these are thy de^ 
 scendants. Show him the stately structures, the splen- 
 did benevolence, the masculine intellect, and the sweet 
 hospitality of the metropolis of New- England. Shew 
 him that immortal vessel, whose name is synoniraous 
 with triuaiph, and each of her masts a sceptre. Sho^r 
 
15 
 
 him the glorious fruits of his humble cnterprizc, and 
 ask liirn if this, all this be not an atonemf iit for his suf- 
 ferings, a '^compense for his toils, a blet^sing on his ef- 
 forts, and a heart-expanding triumph for the Filgrmi 
 adventurer. And if he be proud of his offspring, well 
 may they boast of their parentage. 
 
 The descendants of New-£ngland, wherever situ- 
 ated, must regard with sympatliy the land of their 
 Ancestors, and look back with pride upon their com- 
 mon origin. The statesman can fmd no brighter ex- 
 am[)le of union, strength and harmony than that, 
 under which these early associates grew into 
 celebrity and pov, er. They knew not sectional di" 
 visions — they were one — the strong supporting the 
 weak, the weak confiding in the strong. They were 
 ivise — but alas, wisdom belongs to poverty and dan* 
 ger, and not to pride or prosperity. 
 
 In the happy days of our Republic we seem to be 
 
 losing sight of the cardinal points of happiness. Local 
 
 jealousies darken the political horizon,and fill it with 
 
 dismay. The startling question of Missouri, teeming 
 
 with unknown and unimagined issues — whence did 
 
 it arise and where will it eventuate ? It did not arise 
 
 in iNevv-England. The North and the South, like 
 
 physical extremes, have the same tendency and re- 
 semble each other. 
 
 This evil spirit, for so we may call that, which has 
 grown so suddenly and darkly over us, blending in 
 new combinations all the elements of discord, origi- 
 nated, it is believed, in the intermediate States. — 
 Speaking of it as men unacquainted with its views, , 
 but having every thing to dread in its progress, may 
 we not say, that to question or to assail the early and 
 sacred compromise of our confederacy seems to be 
 no more honest, tiian to a«saiJ or invalidcUe hiAvful 
 
rights — no more generous, than to taunt the unfortu- 
 nate with their cjndidon — no more patriotic, than to 
 deny one's allegiance, and no more humau, than to 
 provoke the worst of civil wars. If these inquiries 
 grow out of a love of power, it is that species of 
 power which, as Pythagoras remarks of gold, im- 
 properly acquired, had better not be acquired at all. 
 If it be humanity, it is the humanity of fratricide ; 
 there is too much darkness in the color of their chari- 
 ty, and too much distance in the scope of its relief. 
 Let us hope, that we have mistaken the motives and 
 object of these painful discussions. Let us hope, that 
 our Statesmen, on all subjects of national concern, 
 will look to the interests of the whole and of each 
 other. The warrior disdains domestic weapons — the 
 Statesman should despise local prejudices; and it is 
 a triumph unworthy of honorable ambition to crow 
 over Achilles by pointing at his heel. 
 
 Gentlemen of the New-England Society : — Un- 
 connected with New-England by birth, I yet owe to 
 it my name, and in justice to its inhabitants have 
 penned this imperfect sketch. It is the record of ac- 
 tive and persevering virtues, such as fdled up and 
 adorned and endeared the long life of your late 
 worthy President and benefactor.* I miss from^ 
 among you his venerable form — -He rests from his 
 benevolent labors. The useful only have a right to 
 iive, and sweet is repose after honorable toil.. 
 
 What is life ? But a pilgrimage under an uncertain 
 sky, through dangerous paths, over obstacles fearful 
 to encoimter and diificidt to remove. What is life, 
 \iai a pilgrimage ? wiiicii is happy only, when it is 
 over. 
 
 * Xa\hanicl PnsscH. Esq. deceaserl. 
 
3477-61 
 Lot-19 
 

 
 
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