The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-08-01

baykauAOn OF the kI1Bn INNS, AuZuog i, 1osoO
In an article in the HERALD, on the 9th ult., |
we expressed our qualification at the growing |
taste and feeling for public celebrations Of his
torical events connected with the rise and pro-
gress of the United States. Whether these COM
memorations are national or local, they cannot
fail to attract public attention and revive pa
triotc and grateful recollections of those glori-
Gus men of other times, who. by their acts and
examples, laid the foundation, or aided in the
construction, of the fabric of this confederacy Of
republican institutions.
This day will become memorable in the an
nails of New England; for it is the first time that
the date of the embarkntion of the Pilgrims
who first settled N New England has been pub
licly celebrated in this country, to mark the
day when that band of heroes and mar
tyrs for religious liberty left the place
of their exile in Holland, and embarked
for the shores OF America The anniversary of
the landing Of the Pilgrims of Plymouth on the
22d of December, has long been concentrated
at Plymouth. and elsewhere in the United
States but The equally interesting day of their
embarkatos from Delft, in Holland August l,
1920, it has been determined by the Pilgrim
Society of Plymouth, to place on the calendar,
as one OF the remarkable days in our annals.
This is to be done by public celebration
this day, at Plymouth on which occasion will,
doubtless, be assembled q large concourse of
the sons of New England. and others who de-
light in historic lore and great achievements,
or to trace, from small beginnings, the origin
of nations
Mr.. Webster, in his great address at Ply
mouth, December 22, 1920, observes: =
Great actions and striking occurrences. having ex-
cited temporary admiration, often pass away and
are forgotten . because s they Leave no last
ness OF communities. Such is frequently the
fortune of the most brilliant military achieve.
ments OF the ten thousand battles which have
been fought of all the fields fertlized with
carnage, of the banners which have been bathed in
blood, of the warriors who have hoped that they
had risen from the field OF conquest to glory as
bright and durable the stars, how few that
tinue long to interest mankind The victory of yes
terday is reversed by the defeat OF to day. the star
Of military glory, rising like meteor like meteor
has fallen; disgrace and disaster hang On the heels
| OF conquest and renown victor and vanquished
presently pass away to oblivion, and the world goes
on in its course, with the loss only OF mauy lives
| and SO much treasure. But it is not always
There enterprises, military as well as civil which
i sometimes check the current Of events, give new
| turn to human affairs, and transmit their conse-
/ quences through ages. We see their Importance in
their results and call them great, because great
/ things follow. There have been battles which have
fixed the fate Of nations When the traveller pauses
on the plain of Marathon whatare the emotions which
most strongly agitate his breast? What is that go-
rios recollection which thrills through his frame and
suffuses his eyes? Not, imagine, that Grecian skill
and Grecian valor were here most sisnaly displayed,
| but tnat Greece Eerself was saved. Ii is because
to this spot and to the event which has rendered it
ha oil IF
republic 1t is Iecause that day had gone otherwise,
Greece had perhed 1t is because he perceives that
her philosophers and Orators her poets and painters,
her sculptors architects her governments aud free
| institutions, point backward to Marathon, aud that
their future existence to have been suspended
or the contingency whether the Persian or the Gre
clan banner should wave victorious in the beams Of
that day setting sun. " Ii We conquer" said the
Athenian commander, on the approach of thst de-
| cisve day, il we conquer shall make Athens
The greatest city Of Greece" prophecy how well
| fulfilled 'lf God prosper US, might have been
| the more appropriate language OF our fathers,
| when they anded upon Plymouth Rock Ii
God prosper US, We shal! here begin a
work which shall last for age; we shall
| plant here society, in the principles Of the
fullest liberty and the purest religion shall sub
due this wilderness which is before us; shall fill
this region of the great continent which stretches
| almost from pole to pole, with civilization and
Christianity; the temples Of the God shall rise
where now ascends the smoke Of idolatroIs sacrifice;
fields and gardens, the flowers OF summer AMI the
over thousand hills and stretch along thousand
valleys never yet, since the creation reclaimed to
the rise OF civilized man. We shall whten this
coast with the canvass Of a prosperous commerce;
We shall stud the long and winding sho e with
hundred cities. That which we SOW in weakness
shall be raised in strength. From the simplicity of
our social union there shall arise wise aud polite
constitutions of govern ment, full Of the liberty
which we ourselves bring and breath from or zeal
Tor learning Institutions shall spring which shall
scatter the light OF knowledge throughout the lapd
and our descendants, through all generations, shall
look back to this spot and to this hour, with una
bated affection and regard.
Nothing can be more appropriate than this
quotation from Mr.. Webster's address, to re-
mind us of the great importance to be attached
to the event of the first settlement of New
England and of the embarkation from the old
world, and the landing or the shores of the
new, Of the noble spirits who accomplished the
enterprise.
The Pilgrims of New England. it is well
known, were of that class Of Englishmen who
are also denomnated Purtans by historians,
to distinguish the name given to the dissenters
from the Church Of England in the reign OF
Elizabeth, and the first two Stuarts. But the
origin of the Puritans may be traced to an
earlier period When Hooper, who was exiled
in the latter part of the reign Of Henry VIII,
was appointed Bishop Of Gloucester, he, for
time refused TO be conaecrated in the vestments
which the law prescribed; and his refusal in
1860, marks the era when the Puritans first
existed as separate party. They demanded
thorough reform the established church desired
to check the propensity to change. In the
reign Of Edward VI, the Roman Catho-
lie doctrines were expunged from the
national creed. and the fundamental articles of
the Protestant faith were recognized and estab-
lished by law. But much Of the ancient cere-
monial Of worship was retained. The sentiments
which were subsequently, matured into the doc
trines OF the pnrilans had alrnadu taknn nns.