New-York tribune., 1874-12-22
EnRE TUERSt lily


respecting tho Pilgrim Fathers, summed up
tho matter succinctly as follows " Very un-
"cOmfoi table people to live with" Such, we
suspect, would be the verdict OF many eulo-
gists-oratorical and mctrical-if they could
sneak from actual and personal experience.
Mr.. James Russell Lowell, with candor ex-
traordinary in a Massachusetts, man, admits
that "the Puritans had faults" "Ihry were
marrow he says, "and uncongenlal; th'!
"could not understand the text, have p'pe"
"'to you, and ye have not danced :" To-day,
in tho State which they helped to found, anu
in many States pcopled in part by their de-
sceudants, dinners will bo eaten and orations
pronounced III their honor, and the somewhat
indefinite aad general opinion both of the
eaters and the orators will be that the PnIltahs
are the finest specimens of people iuri'iSlfn
by profane history if, indeed, their history Is
not to be regarded as sacred. But most OF u.s.
who talk SO glibly Of their virtues, would
have found Puritan Sabbath incxpre'H'DIy
tedious, and Puritan sermon int"lciaply
wcarisOme. Any attempt tO-dly to enforce
much less than moirty OF lac liebraicai
jurisprudence of Plymouth Colony, would be
sure to provoke revolution and to result IN
bloodshcd, if persisted in. 1t is easy to rccit"
Mrs. Henaus's pretty verses or to rrad Mr'
Edward Everctt's smooth Orations; it il re-
vivirg to reflect in this age OK moral cow
arlcc, upon these progcnitors OF tho true
heroic stamp; and 30 we suppose that 10
man sybaric of the days of Nero talked, be-
tween his gu'ps of Falcrnian, of tho pIouS
Kncas; but, inaslnuch rs many who now
glOrify it would have been hunted out OF
Plymouth Colony either for l,zinf5s or Tor
hercsy, for kissing tho virgins or for abs"ntng
themselves from the meeting house. flr dong
forty things or for leaving forty ,ndonc, 1t ls
doubtful whether they would have admired
Cant. Miles Standish in the flesh quite AZ much
as they like him in hcXdmctcrS. whatever
might have been the opinion OF the pretty
Priscilla.
Unfortunately, TINT for winch the P"rltan
is most generally admired he did net, in Ole
sense of the words, pOSs 'Ss at ALL Ol religious
liberty he knew nothing. He saw s"i Ill dis
tinction between free thought and blaephfny,
unless the Thought was in accordance with
creed for which he was willing to die, but
which he had no int .Il;;i6l o. a,;ofing Or
amending. And in this, for which We might
hayo liked him least, if wo had lived with
him, was perhaps the chief excellence OF his
character. FlOundermg in our hitndinarian
Guagm:rcs philosophizing or matrri,lzin. our
selves out of all supernatural truths, living
from hand to mouth upon diet Of doubts,
and nourishcd upon the dry hu-ks of mega
tion, we ought to look back only with an
involuntary wonder and reverence upon men
L. -.
faction, all these importunate enigmas. and
had planted their feet firmly upon the rock OF
q real belief.
TO tho modern eye the figure presented Of
tho Plymouth Puritan is rs fl"shlrs' and
blOodlcss rs an outline drawing by Flaxmln.
Indubitable traces arc there Of the heroic. Of
persistence, of unflinching fidelity to con-
sciences but our hearts warm slowly, if at all,
to these grim ghosts stalking about in De-
cember twilight, and already fading into the
final ana mythical stage OF thcii immortality.
Mr.. Longfcll0w, in his way, has done his best
TO throw an Arcadian rose light over the
sccne but tho atmosphere of his beautiful
nocm is as much an anachrOnism Is its meter;
and we cannot help feeling that Puritan
Pastoral, however well written, is something
OIL a DdruuOA. vi hUSc NC huOh III
tic, though the Bay State girls are frequently
named for her; and Of her father hardly more
than that he brought to the godly colony the
free speech of the soldier and something of
the free manners of tho camp. But, as future
years 90 by, VIC may be sure that little Rose
will grow sweeter and sweeter; that the Cap
tain will become more and more truculcnt I;
that the elders will put on something of tho
dignity of an antique priesthood, and the
magistrates Dctrlfy into so many SolOns. The
Iliad or rather the Odyssey of Plymouth, will
then be written; better pictures of the Land
ing 1--WE hOpe) will be painted, though with
Capt Miles will stand in brass or marble, u
venerable Yankee Achilles; while the new
doctors of theology will lecture upon tho
philosophy of the old faith, and painfully trace
down from it the pedigree of the new and the
infallible.
It is customary to consider the Pilgrim
Fathers from Fourth of July basis, as
the actual founders of our democratic in
sttutons. 1t is hardly necessary for us to say
that neither of the Massachusetts Govern
ments was q democracy at all. 1t is true that
their political forms were those of republic,
but it was tho hierarchical element which
originated and sustained in both colonies q
dominant aristocracy. In Plymouth especially,
it was the Church which governed, which
monopolzed both sacred and secular power,
and which gave color and character to the
body polite Something Of this power is still
retained within the memory of men still lv-
ing. When it was strongest it was in effect
an Establishment not so much united with tho
State as the State itself. Its wcighty mem
bcrs, i'll conjunction with the pastor, were also
the civil rulers; and the taxes which il levied
for its own support, though checrfully paid,
were comparatively heavy. But its constitu-