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- Herausgeber: Musaicum Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
William Bradford's 'Of Plymouth Plantation' meticulously documents the trials and triumphs of the Pilgrims as they make their way to the New World and establish the Plymouth colony. Written in a straightforward yet eloquent style, Bradford's work provides readers with a firsthand account of the early settlement period, offering valuable insights into the challenges of colonization and the relationships between the settlers and the indigenous people. The book's narrative structure, resembling a diary or journal, adds to its authenticity and immediacy, making it a compelling read for those interested in early American history and literature. William Bradford, as the Governor of Plymouth Colony, was uniquely positioned to record the experiences of the Pilgrims and their interactions with the Native Americans. His firsthand knowledge and leadership role in the colony lend credibility and depth to 'Of Plymouth Plantation', making it a valuable primary source for historians and scholars studying this period. Bradford's dedication to preserving the history of the Plymouth colony shines through in his meticulous documentation of events. I highly recommend 'Of Plymouth Plantation' to readers eager to explore the origins of American history through the eyes of a key figure in the establishment of the New England colonies. Bradford's intimate portrayal of the challenges and successes of the early settlers offers a rich and informative perspective on the founding of Plymouth Colony. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
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Of Plymouth Plantation
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Between providence and pragmatism, Of Plymouth Plantation chronicles how a small community balances spiritual ideals with the hard arithmetic of survival, testing whether covenantal faith, neighborly obligation, and improvised governance can hold fast amid oceanic distance, unfamiliar seasons, internal disagreements, and the unpredictable negotiations required when a people establishes itself in a contested land, so that the narrative continually weighs intention against outcome, scriptural conviction against material scarcity, and the hope of a remade church against the daily reckonings of hunger, weather, disease, and law, all while asking readers to consider what it costs—in patience, humility, and courage—to begin again together.
Written by William Bradford, longtime governor of Plymouth Colony, this work belongs to the genre of colonial history and spiritual chronicle. Composed in seventeenth-century New England across the years following settlement, it recounts events from the community’s English Separatist origins through migration to the Netherlands and the passage to North America. The manuscript, preserved privately and later lost from local view, was rediscovered in the nineteenth century and first published then, bringing a primary account of early New England to wider readers. Its setting spans shipboard passage, precarious encampments, and a growing town at the edge of the Atlantic world.
At its core, the book follows a group seeking the freedom to order their worship and common life, tracing departure, voyage, landing, and the first seasons of settlement. Bradford’s voice is steady, reflective, and anchored in what is often called the plain style: unfussy prose, scriptural cadence, and careful enumeration of circumstances. The tone is earnest and frequently somber, yet alert to small consolations, moments of cooperation, and communal resolve. Readers encounter lists, journal-like summaries, and retrospective commentary that alternates between narrative movement and meditative pause, creating a reading experience that feels immediate, judicious, and mindful of the public record.
Several themes structure the chronicle. Migration appears as a moral and logistical experiment, raising questions of belonging, identity, and the commitments that bind a dispersed people. Leadership and consent recur as Bradford weighs authority, disagreement, and the making of civil order. Scarcity drives debates about work, sharing, and fairness, while hope frames risk-taking and endurance. Throughout, providence is invoked as a lens for interpreting adversity, but human agency—planning, negotiation, compromise—is never absent. The result is a narrative that studies the fragile architecture of community, examining how ideals are translated into practices under pressure without presuming simple vindication.
The chronicle also records encounters with the region’s Indigenous peoples, a defining reality of early New England. Bradford writes from a colonial English perspective, attentive to alliance, danger, and exchange, and his account reveals both cooperation and violent possibility. Contemporary readers will notice asymmetries of power, language, and documentation, and may choose to read this text alongside Native histories to broaden the frame. Even within its limits, the book preserves traces of diplomacy, mutual aid, and contested ground, making it an important, if partial, witness to complex relations that shaped settlement and survival for all who lived there.
Equally central is the colony’s experimentation with governance and economy amid changing strains. Bradford describes the drafting of agreements, the election of leaders, the management of labor, and the challenges of supply, trade, and defense, always with an eye to communal cohesion. The narrative shows how procedures arise from need, how law and conscience interact, and how a small society negotiates competing goods—piety, productivity, liberty, and order. This institutional story, embedded in weather notes, harvest reports, and negotiations with neighbors, invites readers to see policy not as abstraction but as the accumulated outcome of many mundane, morally freighted choices.
Today, Of Plymouth Plantation matters as a foundational primary source and as a study in collective beginnings. It offers a detailed window into the textures of migration, the craft of self-government, and the ethics of resource use in an unfamiliar environment. Its plain style encourages close reading and comparison with other voices, foregrounding how narratives shape public memory. For contemporary readers facing debates about belonging, pluralism, scarcity, and leadership, Bradford’s chronicle provides caution and counsel: ideals require institutions, institutions demand maintenance, and communities endure by revising practices without abandoning purpose. The book endures because it keeps these tensions visible.
Synopsis
Of Plymouth Plantation is William Bradford’s seventeenth‑century chronicle of the Separatist congregation that migrated from England and founded Plymouth Colony. Composed over many years while Bradford served as a leading magistrate, it recounts events from the group’s origins through the colony’s early decades. The narrative blends documentary detail with sober reflection on governance, hardship, and communal purpose. Bradford records motivations for departure, the transatlantic journey, political arrangements, and the struggle to establish a stable settlement. Circulating as a manuscript in his lifetime and long afterward, the work later reached print, becoming a central primary source for understanding early New England.
Bradford begins with the English religious climate that pushed reform-minded believers to separate from the established church. He traces the small congregation’s organization in northern England and its precarious existence under surveillance. Seeking freedom to worship, they relocated to the Dutch city of Leiden, where work was plentiful but life was taxing. Despite relative toleration, fears grew that their children would assimilate and that looming continental conflicts might engulf them. Balancing spiritual ideals with practical needs, the leaders deliberated a move that could preserve their language, church discipline, and community bonds. The idea of planting a remote colony gradually took firm shape.
The account then follows negotiations with English investors and colonial authorities, whose support was essential yet conditional. Terms with the Merchant Adventurers and permissions connected to a Virginia patent set legal boundaries while obligating the migrants to exacting repayment. Preparations produced two vessels, but the smaller ship proved unseaworthy, forcing crowded passage on the Mayflower. After a difficult Atlantic crossing, landfall came north of the intended destination. To forestall disorder, adult males subscribed to a compact establishing a civil body politic and procedures for decision-making. Reconnaissance parties surveyed the coast, weighing defensibility, water, and arable ground before selecting a settlement site.
Bradford narrates the grim first winter, when exposure, disease, and scarcity depleted the company. He notes the perseverance of caretakers who nursed the sick, and the gradual organization of work, fortifications, and housing. Leadership stabilized after early losses, with annual elections and counsel shared among trusted assistants. The settlers experimented with communal labor and provisions, then adjusted land allotments and incentives to improve yields. Planting schedules, fishing, and trade routines slowly established a subsistence base. Through trial and adaptation, the colony gained modest security, even as losses remained fresh and ongoing obligations to financiers pressed upon the community.
A turning point came with sustained contact with Indigenous neighbors. Bradford records an initial approach by emissaries, the role of interpreters, and the forging of a peace and mutual-aid arrangement with the Wampanoag under Massasoit. The guidance of a local intermediary in planting techniques and regional travel improved food security and diplomacy. Seasonal encounters set expectations about trade, territory, and the handling of disputes. A successful harvest brought relief and restrained celebration. While differences in custom and interest persisted, a framework for coexistence supported the settlement’s survival, and the narrative attends carefully to the obligations and limits of that accord.
As years pass, Bradford details expansion and strain. Additional arrivals diversify the population and tax provisions, while distant partners press for returns. The colony enters the fur trade, establishes outposts including on the Kennebec, and navigates complex contracts to reduce debt. Conflicts emerge with rival traders and with the disorderly enclave at Merrymount, prompting coordinated responses. New towns appear across New England, and neighboring colonies develop separate churches and laws, requiring diplomacy and occasional joint action. Through elections and courts, Plymouth refines its institutions, balancing congregational ideals with the realities of property, labor, and defense amid a shifting regional landscape.
In later chapters, Bradford reflects on generational change, the dispersal into outlying communities, and the challenge of sustaining the founders’ covenantal aims. He notes cooperative arrangements among colonies for mutual security and adjudication, situating Plymouth within broader New England affairs. The chronicle closes short of his own time of writing, pairing annals with moral commentary. As a manuscript preserved and published long after his death, Of Plymouth Plantation has become a touchstone for studying migration, self-governance, and cross-cultural encounter in the early seventeenth century. Its measured attention to motive, method, and consequence continues to shape interpretations of the colony’s origins.
Historical Context
William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation arises from the early seventeenth-century English Reformation landscape, when the Church of England remained established by law and enforced religious conformity through ecclesiastical courts. A minority of believers, later called Separatists, rejected the national church and organized independent congregations. Authorities prosecuted separatist meetings under statutes against nonconformity, prompting fines, surveillance, and imprisonment. Bradford came from the Scrooby congregation in Nottinghamshire, meeting at William Brewster’s house and guided by pastor John Robinson. This setting of religious dissent, legal pressure, and communal discipline frames Bradford’s perspective on covenant, obedience, and the legitimacy of forming a gathered church outside official institutions.
Facing sustained pressure, many members of the Scrooby church migrated to the Dutch Republic, known for relative religious tolerance. By 1609, the congregation settled in Leiden, where Bradford learned trades and participated in a tight-knit English community under John Robinson’s pastoral leadership. Leiden offered legal protection and economic opportunity, yet life remained strenuous and wages modest. Parents worried about children assimilating into Dutch culture, military service, and uncertain prospects. The congregation also desired freedom to plant an English church under its own civil arrangements. These practical and spiritual concerns shaped deliberations that eventually turned their attention toward colonization across the Atlantic.
English colonization already had precedents, notably Jamestown (1607) under the Virginia Company. Seeking similar authorization, the Leiden exiles negotiated through agents for a patent to settle in the company’s northern reaches. Financing hinged on a joint-stock arrangement with London “Merchant Adventurers,” who expected returns from labor and commodities. In 1620 a mixed company of separatists and other migrants arranged passage. Their intended destination lay within the Virginia Company’s grant, but administrative changes soon produced the Council for New England’s sweeping charter. The uncertainties of patents, investors’ demands, and shifting imperial jurisdictions profoundly shaped the group’s plans for civil authority and survival.
The voyage in 1620 brought together religious exiles and hired laborers aboard the Mayflower, a merchant ship repurposed for transatlantic passage. Confined quarters, delays, and rough seas heightened tensions. Landfall occurred far to the north of their patent’s bounds, on the New England coast, where winter conditions loomed. To regulate relations and prevent disorder among differing parties, leading men drafted a brief civil covenant later known as the Mayflower Compact. The first months demanded urgent building, rationing, and care for the sick. Severe illness and exposure caused heavy losses, shaping Bradford’s sober appraisal of human fragility and communal obligation.
Indigenous peoples had long inhabited the region, cultivating fields, building villages, and trading across networks. In parts of coastal New England, an epidemic between 1616 and 1619 drastically reduced populations, unsettling political balances. The Wampanoag, led by Ousamequin (Massasoit), assessed the newcomers amid threats from rival groups. Interactions were mediated by interpreters, notably Tisquantum (Squanto), who had earlier traveled to Europe and back after being seized by an English expedition. Early diplomacy resulted in a mutual defense agreement and regulated exchange of goods. Bradford’s narrative attends to these alliances and communications as crucial conditions for settlement, subsistence, and relative peace.
Governance in Plymouth Colony combined English legal forms with congregational church practice. Adult male freemen met in a General Court to legislate and elect officials, while covenanted congregations managed ecclesiastical affairs without bishops. Bradford served many terms as governor beginning in 1621, emphasizing consensus, record-keeping, and contractual obligations. Economic organization evolved: an initial communal labor arrangement gave way to private allotments in 1623, which Bradford later credited with improved productivity. The colony pursued subsistence farming, fishing, and a beaver trade, including outposts on the Kennebec. These structures reflected efforts to balance piety, necessity, and the expectations of distant investors.
Events in England and New England continually influenced the colony’s trajectory. Under Charles I, religious policies associated with Archbishop William Laud provoked anxiety among reformers and encouraged migration, bringing the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Markets and alliances shifted, and competition among English, French, and Dutch traders affected prices and supply. Plymouth’s indebtedness to its original backers pressed leaders to prioritize furs and repay obligations, prompting repeated negotiations in London and restructuring of the partnership. Bradford’s account emphasizes contractual fidelity, communal discipline, and prudence, while noting conflicts that emerged when profit-seeking, divergent morals, or jurisdictional uncertainties threatened colonial cohesion.
Bradford composed his history primarily between 1630 and 1651, blending chronicle, documentary excerpts, and theological reflection. The manuscript remained unpublished for centuries, was long thought lost after the American Revolution, rediscovered in the nineteenth century in the Bishop of London’s library, and first printed in 1856; it returned to Massachusetts in 1897. As a providential narrative, the work interprets events through covenantal faith, diligence, and humility, while recording laws, treaties, and economic arrangements. It reflects its era’s aspirations for a disciplined godly commonwealth and critiques disorder, coercive uniformity, and unbridled commercialism—offering a window onto the institutional and moral foundations of early New England.
Of Plymouth Plantation
Table of Contents
Introduction
To many people the return of the Bradford Manuscript is a fresh discovery of colonial history. By very many it has been called, incorrectly, the log of the "Mayflower." Indeed, that is the title by which it is described in the decree of the Consistorial Court of London. The fact is, however, that Governor Bradford undertook its preparation long after the arrival of the Pilgrims, and it cannot be properly considered as in any sense a log or daily journal of the voyage of the "Mayflower." It is, in point of fact, a history of the Plymouth Colony, chiefly in the form of annals, extending from the inception of the colony down to the year 1647. The matter has been in print since 1856, put forth through the public spirit of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which secured a transcript of the document from London, and printed it in the society's proceedings of the above-named year. As thus presented, it had copious notes, prepared with great care by the late Charles Deane; but these are not given in the present volume, wherein only such comments as seem indispensable to a proper understanding of the story have been made, leaving whatever elaboration may seem desirable to some future private enterprise.
It is a matter of regret that no picture of Governor Bradford exists. Only Edward Winslow of the Mayflower Company left an authenticated portrait of himself, and that, painted in England, is reproduced in this volume. In those early days Plymouth would have been a poor field for portrait painters. The people were struggling for their daily bread rather than for to-morrow's fame through the transmission of their features to posterity.
The volume of the original manuscript, as it was presented to the Governor of the Commonwealth and is now deposited in the State Library, is a folio measuring eleven and one-half inches in length, seven and seven-eighths inches in width and one and one-half inches in thickness. It is bound in parchment, once white, but now grimy and much the worse for wear, being somewhat cracked and considerably scaled. Much scribbling, evidently by the Bradford family, is to be seen upon its surface, and out of the confusion may be read the name of Mercy Bradford, a daughter of the governor. On the inside of the front cover is pasted a sheet of manilla paper, on which is written the following:—
"Consistory Court of the Diocese of London[1]
In the matter of the application of The Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in London of the United States of America, for the delivery to him, on behalf of the President and Citizens of the said States, of the original manuscript book entitled and known as The Log of the Mayflower.
Produced in Court this 25th day of March, 1897, and marked with the letter A.
Then come two manilla leaves, on both sides of which is written the decree of the Consistorial Court. These leaves and the manilla sheet pasted on the inside of the front cover were evidently inserted after the decree was passed.
Next comes a leaf (apparently the original first leaf of the book), and on it are verses, signed "A. M.," on the death of Mrs. Bradford. The next is evidently one of the leaves of the original book. At the top of the page is written the following:—
This book was rit by govener William bradford and given to his son mager William Bradford and by him to his son mager John Bradford. rit by me Samuel bradford mach 20, 1705.
At the bottom of the same page the name John Bradford appears in different handwriting, evidently written with the book turned wrong side up.
The next is a leaf bearing the following, in the handwriting of Thomas Prince:—
Tuesday, June 4—1728
Calling at Major John Bradford's at Kingston near Plimouth, son of Major Wm. Bradford formerly Dep Gov'r of Plimouth Colony, who was eldest son of Wm. Bradford Esq their 2nd Gov'r, & author of this History; ye sd Major John Bradford gave me several manuscript octavoes wh he assured me were written with his said Grandfather Gov'r Bradford's own hand. He also gave me a little Pencil Book wrote with a Blew lead Pencil by his sd Father ye Dep Gov'r. And He also told me yt He had lent & only lent his sd Grandfather Gov'r Bradford's History of Plimouth Colony wrote by his own Hand also, to judg Sewall; and desired me to get it of Him or find it out, & take out of it what I thought proper for my New-England Chronology: wh I accordingly obtained, and This is ye sd History: wh I found wrote in ye same Handwriting as ye Octavo manuscripts above sd.
Thomas Prince.
N.B. I also mentioned to him my Desire of lodging this History in ye New England Library of Prints & manuscripts, wh I had been then collecting for 23 years, to wh He signified his willingness—only yt He might have the Perusal of it while He lived.
T. Prince.
Following this, on the same page, is Thomas Prince's printed book-mark, as follows:—
This Book belongs to The New-England-Library, Begun to be collected by Thomas Prince, upon his entring Harvard-College, July 6 1703; and was given by
On the lower part of a blank space which follows the word "by" is written:—
It now belongs to the Bishop of London's Library at Fulham.
There are evidences that this leaf did not belong to the original book, but was inserted by Mr. Prince.
At the top of the first page of the next leaf, which was evidently one of the original leaves of the book, is written in Samuel Bradford's hand, "march 20 Samuel Bradford;" and just below there appears, in Thomas Prince's handwriting, the following:—
But major Bradford tells me & assures me that He only lent this Book of his Grandfather's to Mr. Sewall & that it being of his Grandfather's own hand writing He had so high a value of it that he would never Part with ye Property, but would lend it to me & desired me to get it, which I did, & write down this that sd Major Bradford and his Heirs may be known to be the right owners.
Below this, also in Thomas Prince's handwriting, appears this line:—
"Page 243 missing when ye Book came into my Hands at 1st."
Just above the inscription by Prince there is a line or two of writing, marked over in ink so carefully as to be wholly undecipherable. On the reverse page of this leaf and on the first page of the next are written Hebrew words, with definitions. These are all in Governor Bradford's handwriting. On the next page appears the following:—
Though I am growne aged, yet I have had a long- ing desire, to see with my own eyes, something of that most ancient language, and holy tongue, in which the Law, and oracles of God were write; and in which God, and angels, spake to the holy patriarks, of old time; and what names were given to things, from the creation. And though I cañot attaine to much herein, yet I am refreshed, to have seen some glimpse here- of; (as Moses saw the Land of canan afarr of) my aime and desire is, to see how the words, and phrases lye in the holy texte; and to dicerne some- what of the same for my owne contente. ——— —— — J
Then begins the history proper, the first page of which is produced in facsimile in this volume, slightly reduced. The ruled margins end with page thirteen. From that page to the end of the book the writing varies considerably, sometimes being quite coarse and in other places very fine, some pages containing nearly a thousand words each. As a rule, the writing is upon one side of the sheet only, but in entering notes and subsequent thoughts the reverse is sometimes used. The last page number is 270, as appears from the facsimile reproduction in this volume of that page. Page 270 is followed by two blank leaves; then on the second page of the next leaf appears the list of names of those who came over in the "Mayflower," covering four pages and one column on the fifth page. The arrangement of this matter is shown by the facsimile reproduction in this volume of the first page of these names. Last of all there is a leaf of heavy double paper, like the one in the front of the book containing the verses on the death of Mrs. Bradford, and on this last leaf is written an index to a few portions of the history.
For copy, there was used the edition printed in 1856 by the Massachusetts Historical Society. The proof was carefully compared, word for word, with the photographic facsimile issued in 1896 in both London and Boston. The value of this comparison is evident in that a total of sixteen lines of the original, omitted in the original first copy, is supplied in this edition. As the work of the Historical Society could not be compared, easily, with the original manuscript in London, these omissions, with sundry minor errors in word and numeral, are not unreasonable. The curious will be pleased to learn that the supplied lines are from the following pages of the manuscript, viz.: page 122, eight lines; page 129, two lines; the obverse of page 201, found on the last page of Appendix A, two lines; page 219, two lines; pages 239 and 258, one line each. The pages of the manuscript are indicated in these printed pages by numerals in parentheses.
There are several errors in the paging of the original manuscript. Pages 105 and 106 are marked 145 and 146, and pages 219 and 220 are marked 119 and 120, respectively. Page 243 is missing.
Such as it is, the book is put forth that the public may know what manner of men the Pilgrims were, through what perils and vicissitudes they passed, and how much we of to-day owe to their devotion and determination.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE
JOURNAL OF THE SENATE.
Monday, May 24, 1897.
The following message from His Excellency the Governor came up from the House, to wit:—
Boston, May 22, 1897.
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives.
I have the honor to call to your attention the fact that Wednesday, May 26, at 11 a.m., has been fixed as the date of the formal presentation to the Governor of the Commonwealth of the Bradford Manuscript History, recently ordered by decree of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of London to be returned to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the hands of the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, lately Ambassador at the Court of St. James; and to suggest for the favorable consideration of your honorable bodies that the exercises of presentation be held in the House of Representatives on the day and hour above given, in the presence of a joint convention of the two bodies and of invited guests and the public.
Roger Wolcott.
Thereupon, on motion of Mr. Roe,—
Ordered, That, in accordance with the suggestion of His Excellency the Governor, a joint convention of the two branches be held in the chamber of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday, May the twenty-sixth, at eleven o'clock a.m., for the purpose of witnessing the exercises of the formal presentation, to the Governor of the Commonwealth, of the Bradford Manuscript History, recently ordered by decree of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of London to be returned to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by the hands of the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, lately Ambassador at the Court of St. James; and further
Ordered, That the clerks of the two branches give notice to His Excellency the Governor of the adoption of this order.
Sent down for concurrence. (It was concurred with same date.)
JOURNAL OF THE SENATE.
Wednesday, May 26, 1897.
Joint Convention.
At eleven o'clock a.m., pursuant to assignment, the two branches met in
Convention
in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
On motion of Mr. Roe,—
Ordered, That a committee, to consist of three members of the Senate and eight members of the House of Representatives, be appointed, to wait upon His Excellency the Governor and inform him that the two branches are now in convention for the purpose of witnessing the exercises of the formal presentation, to the Governor of the Commonwealth, of the Bradford Manuscript History.
Messrs. Roe, Woodward and Gallivan, of the Senate, and Messrs. Pierce of Milton, Bailey of Plymouth, Brown of Gloucester, Fairbank of Warren, Bailey of Newbury, Sanderson of Lynn, Whittlesey of Pittsfield and Bartlett of Boston, of the House, were appointed the committee.
Mr. Roe, from the committee, afterwards reported that they had attended to the duty assigned them, and that His Excellency the Governor had been pleased to say that he received the message and should be pleased to wait upon the Convention forthwith for the purpose named.
His Excellency the Governor, accompanied by His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor and the Honorable Council, and by the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, lately Ambassador of the United States at the Court of St. James's, the Honorable George F. Hoar, Senator from Massachusetts in the Congress of the United States, and other invited guests, entered the chamber.
The decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, authorizing the return of the manuscript and its delivery to the Governor, was read.
The President then presented the Honorable George F. Hoar, who gave an account of the manuscript and of the many efforts that had been made to secure its return.
The Honorable Thomas F. Bayard was then introduced by the President, and he formally presented the manuscript to His Excellency the Governor, who accepted it in behalf of the Commonwealth.
On motion of Mr. Bradford, the following order was adopted:—
Whereas, In the presence of the Senate and of the House of Representatives in joint convention assembled, and in accordance with a decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, the manuscript of Bradford's "History of the Plimouth Plantation" has this day been delivered to His Excellency the Governor of the Commonwealth by the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, lately Ambassador of the United States at the Court of St. James's; and
Whereas, His Excellency the Governor has accepted the said manuscript in behalf of the Commonwealth; therefore, be it
Ordered, That the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts place on record their high appreciation of the generous and gracious courtesy that prompted this act of international good-will, and express their grateful thanks to all concerned therein, and especially to the Lord Bishop of London, for the return to the Commonwealth of this precious relic; and be it further
Ordered, That His Excellency the Governor be requested to transmit an engrossed and duly authenticated copy of this order with its preamble to the Lord Bishop of London.
His Excellency, accompanied by the other dignitaries, then withdrew, the Convention was dissolved, and the Senate returned to its chamber.
Subsequently a resolve was passed (approved June 10, 1897) providing for the publication of the history from the original manuscript, together with a report of the proceedings of the joint convention, such report to be prepared by a committee consisting of one member of the Senate and two members of the House of Representatives, and to include, so far as practicable, portraits of His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott, William Bradford, the Honorable George F. Hoar, the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Bishop of London; facsimiles of pages from the manuscript history, and a picture of the book itself; copies of the decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, the receipt of the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard for the manuscript, and the receipt sent by His Excellency the Governor to the Consistorial and Episcopal Court; an account of the legislative action taken with reference to the presentation and reception of the manuscript; the addresses of the Honorable George F. Hoar, the Honorable Thomas F. Bayard and His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott; and such other papers and illustrations as the committee might deem advisable; the whole to be printed under the direction of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the book distributed by him according to directions contained in the resolve.
Senator Alfred S. Roe of Worcester and Representatives Francis C. Lowell of Boston and Walter L. Bouvé of Hingham were appointed as the committee.
DECREE OF THE CONSISTORIAL AND EPISCOPAL COURT OF LONDON
DECREE.
MANDELL by Divine Permission LORD BISHOP OF LONDON—To The Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria at the Court of Saint James's in London and To The Governor and Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States of America Greeting—WHEREAS a Petition has been filed in the Registry of Our Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London by you the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria at the Court of Saint James's in London on behalf of the President and Citizens of the United States of America wherein you have alleged that there is in Our Custody as Lord Bishop of London a certain Manuscript Book known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower" containing an account as narrated by Captain William Bradford who was one of the Company of Englishmen who left England in April 1620 in the ship known as "The Mayflower" of the circumstances leading to the prior Settlement of that Company at Leyden in Holland their return to England and subsequent departure for New England their landing at Cape Cod in December 1620 their Settlement at New Plymouth and their later history for several years they being the Company whose Settlement in America is regarded as the first real Colonisation of the New England States and wherein you have also alleged that the said Manuscript Book had been for many years past and was then deposited in the Library attached to Our Episcopal Palace at Fulham in the County of Middlesex and is of the greatest interest importance and value to the Citizens of the United States of America inasmuch as it is one of the earliest records of their national History and contains much valuable information in regard to the original Settlers in the States their family history and antecedents and that therefore you earnestly desired to acquire possession of the same for and on behalf of the President and Citizens of the said United States of America AND WHEREIN you have also alleged that you are informed that We as Lord Bishop of London had fully recognised the value and interest of the said Manuscript Book to the Citizens of the United States of America and the claims which they have to its possession and that We were desirous of transferring it to the said President and Citizens AND WHEREIN you have also alleged that you are advised and believe that the Custody of documents in the nature of public or ecclesiastical records belonging to the See of London is vested in the Consistorial Court of the said See and that any disposal thereof must be authorised by an Order issued by the Judge of that Honorable Court And that you therefore humbly prayed that the said Honorable Court would deliver to you the said Manuscript Book on your undertaking to use every means in your power for the safe transmission of the said Book to the United States of America and its secure deposit and custody in the Pilgrim Hall at New Plymouth or in such other place as may be selected by the President and Senate of the said United States and upon such conditions as to security and access by and on behalf of the English Nation as that Honorable Court might determine AND WHEREAS the said Petition was set down for hearing on one of the Court days in Hilary Term to wit Thursday the Twenty fifth day of March One thousand eight hundred and ninety seven in Our Consistorial Court in the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in London before The Right Worshipful Thomas Hutchinson Tristram Doctor of Laws and one of Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the Law Our Vicar General and Official Principal the Judge of the said Court and you at the sitting of the said Court appeared by Counsel in support of the Prayer of the said Petition and during the hearing thereof the said Manuscript Book was produced in the said Court by Our legal Secretary and was then inspected and examined by the said Judge and evidence was also given before the Court by which it appeared that the Registry at Fulham Palace[2] was a Public Registry for Historical and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to the Diocese of London and to the Colonial and other possessions of Great Britain beyond the Seas so long as the same remained by custom within the said Diocese AND WHEREAS it appeared on the face of the said Manuscript Book that the whole of the body thereof with the exception of part of the last page thereof was in the handwriting of the said William Bradford who was elected Governor of New Plymouth in April 1621 and continued Governor thereof from that date excepting between the years 1635 and 1637 up to 1650 and that the last five pages of the said Manuscript which is in the handwriting of the said William Bradford contain what in Law is an authentic Register between 1620 and 1650 of the fact of the Marriages of the Founders of the Colony of New England with the names of their respective wives and the names of their Children the lawful issue of such Marriages and of the fact of the Marriages of many of their Children and Grandchildren and of the names of the issue of such marriages and of the deaths of many of the persons named therein And after hearing Counsel in support of the said application the Judge being of opinion that the said Manuscript Book had been upon the evidence before the Court presumably deposited at Fulham Palace sometime between the year 1729 and the year 1785 during which time the said Colony was by custom within the Diocese of London for purposes Ecclesiastical and the Registry of the said Consistorial Court was a legitimate Registry for the Custody of Registers of Marriages Births and Deaths within the said Colony and that the Registry at Fulham Palace was a Registry for Historical and other Documents connected with the Colonies and possessions of Great Britain beyond the Seas so long as the same remained by custom within the Diocese of London and that on the Declaration of the Independence of the United States of America in 1776 the said Colony had ceased to be within the Diocese of London and the Registry of the Court had ceased to be a public registry for the said Colony and having maturely deliberated on the Cases precedents and practice of the Ecclesiastical Court bearing on the application before him and having regard to the Special Circumstances of the Case Decreed as follows—(1) That a Photographic facsimile reproduction of the said Manuscript Book verified by affidavit as being a true and correct Photographic reproduction of the said Manuscript Book be deposited in the Registry of Our said Court by or on behalf of the Petitioner before the delivery to the Petitioner of the said original Manuscript Book as hereinafter ordered—(2) That the said Manuscript Book be delivered over to the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard by the Lord Bishop of London or in his Lordship's absence by the Registrar of the said Court on his giving his undertaking in writing that he will with all due care and diligence on his arrival from England in the United States convey and deliver in person the said Manuscript Book to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States of America at his Official Office in the State House in the City of Boston and that from the time of the delivery of the said Book to him by the said Lord Bishop of London or by the said Registrar until he shall have delivered the same to the Governor of Massachusetts he will retain the same in his own Personal custody—(3) That the said Book be deposited by the Petitioner with the Governor of Massachusetts for the purpose of the same being with all convenient speed finally deposited either in the State Archives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the City of Boston or in the Library of the Historical Society of the said Commonwealth in the City of Boston as the Governor shall determine—(4) That the Governors of the said Commonwealth for all time to come be officially responsible for the safe custody of the said Manuscript Book whether the same be deposited in the State Archives at Boston or in the Historical Library in Boston aforesaid as well as for the performance of the following conditions subject to a compliance wherewith the said Manuscript Book is hereby decreed to be deposited in the Custody of the aforesaid Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and his Successors to wit:—(a) That all persons have such access to the said Manuscript Book as to the Governor of the said Commonwealth for the time being shall appear to be reasonable and with such safeguard as he shall order—(b) That all persons desirous of searching the said Manuscript Book for the bona fide purpose of establishing or tracing a Pedigree through persons named in the last five pages thereof or in any other part thereof shall be permitted to search the same under such safeguards as the Governor for the time being shall determine on payment of a fee to be fixed by the Governor—(c) That any person applying to the Official having the immediate custody of the said Manuscript Book for a Certified Copy of any entry contained in proof of Marriage Birth or Death of persons named therein or of any other matter of like purport for the purpose of tracing descents shall be furnished with such certificate on the payment of a sum not exceeding one Dollar—(d) That with all convenient speed after the delivery of the said Manuscript Book to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the Governor shall transmit to the Registrar of the Court a Certificate of the delivery of the same to him by the Petitioner and that he accepts the Custody of the same subject to the terms and conditions herein named AND the Judge lastly decreed that the Petitioner on delivering the said Manuscript Book to the Governor aforesaid shall at the same time deliver to him this Our Decree Sealed with the Seal of the Court WHEREFORE WE the Bishop of London aforesaid well weighing and considering the premises DO by virtue of Our Authority Ordinary and Episcopal and as far as in Us lies and by Law We may or can ratify and confirm such Decree of Our Vicar General and Official Principal of Our Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London IN TESTIMONY whereof We have caused the Seal of Our said Vicar General and Official Principal of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London which We use in this behalf to be affixed to these Presents DATED AT LONDON this Twelfth day of April One thousand eight hundred and ninety seven and in the first year of Our Translation.
(L.S.)
RECEIPT OF AMBASSADOR BAYARD.
In the Consistory Court of London
In the Matter of the Original Manuscript of the Book entitled and known as "The Log of the Mayflower."
I the Honourable THOMAS FRANCIS BAYARD lately Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of Saint James's London Do hereby undertake, in compliance with the Order of this Honourable Court dated the twelfth day of April 1897 and made on my Petition filed in the said Honourable Court, that I will with all due care and diligence on my arrival from England in the United States of America safely convey over the Original Manuscript Book Known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower" which has been this twenty ninth day of April 1897 delivered over to me by the Lord Bishop of London, to the City of Boston in the United States of America and on my arrival in the said City deliver the same over in person to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at his Official Office in the State House in the said City of Boston AND I further hereby undertake from the time of the said delivery of the said Book to me by the said Lord Bishop of London until I shall have delivered the same to the Governor of Massachusetts, to retain the same in my own personal custody.
RECEIPT OF GOVERNOR WOLCOTT.
His Excellency Roger Wolcott, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States of America.
To the Registrar of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London.
Whereas, The said Honorable Court, by its decree dated the twelfth day of April, 1897, and made on the petition of the Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, lately Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of Saint James in London, did order that a certain original manuscript book then in the custody of the Lord Bishop of London, known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower," and more specifically described in said decree, should be delivered over to the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard by the Lord Bishop of London, on certain conditions specified in said decree, to be delivered by the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard in person to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thereafter to be kept in the custody of the aforesaid Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and his successors, subject to a compliance with certain conditions, as set forth in said decree;
And Whereas, The said Honorable Court by its decree aforesaid did further order that, with all convenient speed after the delivery of the said manuscript book to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Governor should transmit to the Registrar of the said Honorable Court a certificate of the delivery of the same to him by the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, and his acceptance of the custody of the same, subject to the terms and conditions named in the decree aforesaid;
Now, Therefore, In compliance with the decree aforesaid I do hereby certify that on the twenty-sixth day of May, 1897, the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard delivered in person to me, at my official office in the State House in the city of Boston, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States of America, a certain manuscript book which the said Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard then and there declared to be the original manuscript book known as and entitled "The Log of the Mayflower," which is more specifically described in the decree aforesaid; and I do further certify that I hereby accept the custody of the same, subject to the terms and conditions named in the decree aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Commonwealth to be affixed, at the Capitol in Boston, this twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven.
ADDRESS OF SENATOR HOAR.
The first American Ambassador to Great Britain, at the end of his official service, comes to Massachusetts on an interesting errand. He comes to deliver to the lineal successor of Governor Bradford, in the presence of the representatives and rulers of the body politic formed by the compact on board the "Mayflower," Nov. 11, 1620[3], the only authentic history of the founding of their Commonwealth; the only authentic history of what we have a right to consider the most important political transaction that has ever taken place on the face of the earth.
Mr. Bayard has sought to represent to the mother country, not so much the diplomacy as the good-will of the American people. If in this anybody be tempted to judge him severely, let us remember what his great predecessor, John Adams, the first minister at the same court, representing more than any other man, embodying more than any other man, the spirit of Massachusetts, said to George III., on the first day of June, 1785, after the close of our long and bitter struggle for independence: "I shall esteem myself the happiest of men if I can be instrumental in restoring an entire esteem, confidence and affection, or, in better words, the old good-nature and the old good-humor between people who, though separated by an ocean and under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion and kindred blood."
And let us remember, too, the answer of the old monarch, who, with all his faults, must have had something of a noble and royal nature stirring in his bosom, when he replied: "Let the circumstances of language, religion and blood have their natural and full effect."
It has long been well known that Governor Bradford wrote and left behind him a history of the settlement of Plymouth. It was quoted by early chroniclers. There are extracts from it in the records at Plymouth. Thomas Prince used it when he compiled his annals. Hubbard depended on it when he wrote his "History of New England." Cotton Mather had read it, or a copy of a portion of it, when he wrote his "Magnalia." Governor Hutchinson[4] had it when he published the second volume of his history in 1767. From that time it disappeared from the knowledge of everybody on this side of the water. All our historians speak of it as lost, and can only guess what had been its fate. Some persons suspected that it was destroyed when Governor Hutchinson's house was sacked in 1765, others that it was carried off by some officer or soldier when Boston was evacuated by the British army in 1776.
In 1844 Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, afterward Bishop of Winchester, one of the brightest of men, published one of the dullest and stupidest of books. It is entitled "The History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America." It contained extracts from manuscripts which he said he had discovered in the library of the Bishop of London at Fulham. The book attracted no attention here until, about twelve years later, in 1855, John Wingate Thornton, whom many of us remember as an accomplished antiquary and a delightful gentleman, happened to pick up a copy of it while he was lounging in Burnham's book store. He read the bishop's quotations, and carried the book to his office, where he left it for his friend, Mr. Barry, who was then writing his "History of Massachusetts," with passages marked, and with a note which is not preserved, but which, according to his memory, suggested that the passages must have come from Bradford's long-lost history. That is the claim for Mr. Thornton. On the other hand, it is claimed by Mr. Barry that there was nothing of that kind expressed in Mr. Thornton's note, but in reading the book when he got it an hour or so later, the thought struck him for the first time that the clew had been found to the precious book which had been lost so long. He at once repaired to Charles Deane, then and ever since, down to his death, as President Eliot felicitously styled him, "the master of historical investigators in this country." Mr. Deane saw the importance of the discovery. He communicated at once with Joseph Hunter, an eminent English scholar. Hunter was high authority on all matters connected with the settlement of New England. He visited the palace at Fulham, and established beyond question the identity of the manuscript with Governor Bradford's history, an original letter of Governor Bradford having been sent over for comparison of handwriting.
How the manuscript got to Fulham nobody knows. Whether it was carried over by Governor Hutchinson in 1774; whether it was taken as spoil from the tower of the Old South Church in 1775; whether, with other manuscripts, it was sent to Fulham at the time of the attempts of the Episcopal churches in America, just before the revolution, to establish an episcopate here,—nobody knows. It would seem that Hutchinson would have sent it to the colonial office; that an officer would naturally have sent it to the war office; and a private would have sent it to the war office, unless he had carried it off as mere private booty and plunder,—in which case it would have been unlikely that it would have reached a public place of custody. But we find it in the possession of the church and of the church official having, until independence was declared, special jurisdiction over Episcopal interests in Massachusetts and Plymouth. This may seem to point to a transfer for some ecclesiastical purpose.
The bishop's chancellor conjectures that it was sent to Fulham because of the record annexed to it of the early births, marriages and deaths, such records being in England always in ecclesiastical custody. But this is merely conjecture.
I know of no incident like this in history, unless it be the discovery in a chest in the castle of Edinburgh, where they had been lost for one hundred and eleven years, of the ancient regalia of Scotland,—the crown of Bruce, the sceptre and sword of state. The lovers of Walter Scott, who was one of the commissioners who made the search, remember his intense emotion, as described by his daughter, when the lid was removed. Her feelings were worked up to such a pitch that she nearly fainted, and drew back from the circle.
As she was retiring she was startled by his voice exclaiming, in a tone of the deepest emotion, "something between anger and despair," as she expressed it: "By God, no!" One of the commissioners, not quite entering into the solemnity with which Scott regarded this business, had, it seems, made a sort of motion as if he meant to put the crown on the head of one of the young ladies near him, but the voice and the aspect of the poet were more than sufficient to make this worthy gentleman understand his error; and, respecting the enthusiasm with which he had not been taught to sympathize, he laid down the ancient diadem with an air of painful embarrassment. Scott whispered, "Pray forgive me," and turning round at the moment observed his daughter deadly pale and leaning by the door. He immediately drew her out of the room, and when she had somewhat recovered in the fresh air, walked with her across Mound to Castle Street. "He never spoke all the way home," she says, "but every now and then I felt his arm tremble, and from that time I fancied he began to treat me more like a woman than a child. I thought he liked me better, too, than he had ever done before."
There have been several attempts to procure the return of the manuscript to this country. Mr. Winthrop, in 1860, through the venerable John Sinclair, archdeacon, urged the Bishop of London to give it up, and proposed that the Prince of Wales, then just coming to this country, should take it across the Atlantic and present it to the people of Massachusetts. The Attorney-General, Sir Fitzroy Kelley, approved the plan, and said it would be an exceptional act of grace, a most interesting action, and that he heartily wished the success of the application. But the bishop refused. Again, in 1869, John Lothrop Motley, then minister to England, who had a great and deserved influence there, repeated the proposition, at the suggestion of that most accomplished scholar, Justin Winsor. But his appeal had the same fate. The bishop gave no encouragement, and said, as had been said nine years before, that the property could not be alienated without an act of Parliament. Mr. Winsor planned to repeat the attempt on his visit to England in 1877. When he was at Fulham the bishop was absent, and he was obliged to come home without seeing him in person.
In 1881, at the time of the death of President Garfield, Benjamin Scott, chamberlain of London, proposed again in the newspapers that the restitution should be made. But nothing came of it.
Dec. 21, 1895, I delivered an address at Plymouth, on the occasion of the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims upon the rock. In preparing for that duty, I read again, with renewed enthusiasm and delight, the noble and touching story, as told by Governor Bradford. I felt that this precious history of the Pilgrims ought to be in no other custody than that of their children. But the case seemed hopeless. I found myself compelled by a serious physical infirmity to take a vacation, and to get a rest from public cares and duties, which was impossible while I stayed at home. When I went abroad I determined to visit the locality, on the borders of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, from which Bradford and Brewster and Robinson, the three leaders of the Pilgrims, came, and where their first church was formed, and the places in Amsterdam and Leyden where the emigrants spent thirteen years. But I longed especially to see the manuscript of Bradford at Fulham, which then seemed to me, as it now seems to me, the most precious manuscript on earth, unless we could recover one of the four gospels as it came in the beginning from the pen of the Evangelist.
The desire to get it back grew and grew during the voyage across the Atlantic. I did not know how such a proposition would be received in England. A few days after I landed I made a call upon John Morley. I asked him whether he thought the thing could be done. He inquired carefully into the story, took down from his shelf the excellent though brief life of Bradford in Leslie Stephen's "Biographical Dictionary," and told me he thought the book ought to come back to us, and that he should be glad to do anything in his power to help. It was my fortune, a week or two after, to sit next to Mr. Bayard at a dinner given to Mr. Collins by the American consuls in Great Britain. I took occasion to tell him the story, and he gave me the assurance, which he has since so abundantly and successfully fulfilled, of his powerful aid. I was compelled, by the health of one of the party with whom I was travelling, to go to the continent almost immediately, and was disappointed in the hope of an early return to England. So the matter was delayed until about a week before I sailed for home, when I went to Fulham, in the hope at least of seeing the manuscript. I had supposed that it was a quasi-public library, open to general visitors. But I found the bishop was absent. I asked for the librarian, but there was no such officer, and I was told very politely that the library was not open to the public, and was treated in all respects as that of a private gentleman. So I gave up any hope of doing anything in person. But I happened, the Friday before I sailed for home, to dine with an English friend who had been exceedingly kind to me. As he took leave of me, about eleven o'clock in the evening, he asked me if there was anything more he could do for me. I said, "No, unless you happen to know the Lord Bishop of London. I should like to get a sight at the manuscript of Bradford's history before I go home." He said, "I do not know the bishop myself, but Mr. Grenfell, at whose house you spent a few days in the early summer, married the bishop's niece, and will gladly give you an introduction to his uncle. He is in Scotland. But I will write to him before I go to bed."
Sunday morning brought me a cordial letter from Mr. Grenfell, introducing me to the bishop. I wrote a note to his lordship, saying I should be glad to have an opportunity to see Bradford's history; that I was to sail for the United States the next Wednesday, but would be pleased to call at Fulham Tuesday, if that were agreeable to him.
