The Portland daily press., 1874-02-25
On the Wing.
MAINE HISTORY WRITTEN AT ST. JOHN.

| ST. JOHN. NIB. Feb 21st
| To the Editor of the Prsse:
Your correspondent finds himself to-day or
the spot where Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1913;
| in contravention of Spanish intent and to de-
| fy the .pretensiOns of that arrogant power, call
ed in the English, French and other fishing
fleets and in their presence and hearing, with
great pomp and Royal formularies, proclaimed
| to the north and to the south. and to the east
and to the west the sovereignty of Queen Eliz
abeth of England, "over the sea and over the
whales and over the fish, as we'll as over the
land, and over the forests and over the native
race" and unfurled the Cross of St. George
A city has hung its English houses and bust
ness marts along the precipitous banks of the
mighty tides of the st. Johns River of the
north, and street upon street, to the very top of
the marginal heights, distinguished with every
feature OF modern and thriftful commerce.
'En passant," we take the City of Bath on
our way, drawn by the attractions of the win
! ter session of the Maine Historical Society. 1t
was "feast of fat things" The eulogy pro-
nounced by the Hon. j. w. Bradbury, was an
eloquent and merited tribute to the character
and attachments of its late lameLted President,
Hon. E. 4, Bourne, and paper worthy the
place it will take in the Society's transactions.
The paper of Judg Godfrey was instructive
and showed that Plymouth had paid homage to
Pemaquid, her great captain, "Miles Standish
having there sought shelter and succor from
the disaster of an abortve attempt to force her
trade at Pentagoet." Miles Standish at Pema-
guild! Ought not his monument to be reared
on Pemaquid instead of Duxhury point? We
would not wish it done to the detraction Of
Massachusetts, heroism or Plymouth fame.
MIR. Williamson's biographical sketch of the
next to the last survivor of our Revolutionary
heroes was we'll done. Mr.. Goods history of
paper making" was timely and valuable
contribution to the literature of Maine.
The exhibit of the plans aud acts of the Span
ish Government, in Selling and securing pos.
session of the coasts of Maine. between 1865
and 1874, opens new and most interesting
field of historical investigation showing the
eminent attractions of the coast of Maine for
a Judgement of European life and enterprise,
in the earliest dawn of European emigration to
North America.
DR.. Johnson's paper, brought out in the
discussion of its assumptions, touching the
"Pierce Patent (now an object of earnest his
torical inquiry)-that, as early as 1919, John
Pierce had negotiated for territorial acquisi-
tions in the new world-had sent his agent
Weston to Leyden to induce the Pilgrims to
emigrate under his proprietary jurisdiction,
the negotiations for which fell through.
But his land titles and family, having been
found at Pemaquid for century or more, it is
quite certain the populousness, thrift and i'm
portance of the Port of Pemaquid, attracted
him thither to locate his land with a view to
an early and remunerative realization of their
value in marketable acres. Thus we solve the
problem of John Pierce's presence at Pema-
quid, as one of its earliest settlers and land
holders.
This meeting was most interesting and in
structve, well attended and successful; and the
citizens of Bath, with cordial hospitality, show
ed worthy appreciation of the work of the So
cety and which might be expected of region,
whose first settlers opened the beginnings OF
New England in "ship-yard' in 1907, which
has grown to be the Queen City of ship yards in
North America.
But through the winter wilderness from the
Kennebec to the st. Johns. who can describe its
crude novelties and contrasts From the
Penobscot, it is very even route along the
margins of the feeders CT that river The
great industry on the verge of civilized life is
that of the leather makers About each of the
several manufactures of leather, nuclei of in.
teresting, tasteful and thriftful communities
are gathering in the midst of trees and stumps
charred and blackened by pioneer girdlings and
fires; and at various points, clearings are dottne
the line of the E. & N. A. R. R. with the
primitive 'log cabin" which is all there is to
relieve the utterly monotonous desolation and
steriity of this route till we reach the height Of
lands between the st, Croix and the St Johns.