The record-union., 1897-05-30
Interesting Insight Into the Most Re.
markable Voyage Ever
Undertaken.

hoSpitable shore of an uneXplored and
savage land that they might worship
| God after own fashion.
| 1t is difficult in these DAYS. with our
| more worldly and perhaps more ego
| tiStical education, to comprehend the
spirit which urged the Puritans in
| their act of desperation, for desperate
it certainly was / wonder how many
| there are among us to-day who would
| be willing to set sail in a frail bark of
a hundred tons to found a colony in an
unsettled and savage part of Africa.
| The analogy is permissible. America
meant no more to those exiles than At
rica means to US.
Even if they succeeded in crossing
the ocean safely they knew there was
none to welcome them on their arrival.
| No hotels or habitationS to find shell
| ter in, no food and no fire save what
they themselves could provide. On the
| contrary, it was more than probable
| that the Indians would attack them
| fiercely wherever they attempted to
| land. Yet all these considerations did
not deter them. What is more, these
people were not of the pauper class
that usually leaves it's country to seek
a home in distant lands. Most of them
were well to do, delicately nurtured and
accustomed to luXuries, and nearly all
travelled with two or more servants.
| Well may Governor Bradford have said
in his chronicle:
| May not and ought not the children
of these fathers rightly say: Our fore
fathers were Englishmen which came
over this great ocean and We're ready
| IN parich n this Wilderness
1t is in a diary kept by William Brad
| ford, one of its passengers and second
Governor of the first New England col
ony, that the wonderful story of the
voyage of the Mayflower from England
is found, and it is this precious record
which remained in manuscript form for
over 200 years, and then mysteriously
disappeared, THAI England has just
| consented to restore to us.
The Herald has already told the
story of the loss and the finding of
this precious document generally
known as the log of the Mayfower'' .
/ The fascinating narrative as told by
Governor Bradford begins with the
struggles of the Noncormists, or Puri-
tans, in England for independence. On
the accession of James I. to the throne
of England the Puritans had great
hopes that the seventies of Elizabeth
toward them would be modified. In
this, however, theyS were disappointed.
James bore them ff1le favor He saw
in their tenets a leaning toward repub-
l licanism and censure for his own profit
gacy and extravaganza. So he adopt
ed the most severe measures against
them, and finally prosecuted and har-
assed wherever they dared to do wor-
ship in their own way, in 1907 a num-
ber of them fled from England and set
tied in Leyden, Holland, where for
twelve years they lived in comparative
comfort.
They We're kindly treated by the
Dutch, but they soon found that their
fellow PuritansS in hEngland preferred
their bondage. in England to life in a
foreign country, and thus they began
to think of removing to another land
where they would be in less danger of
losing their identity of race.
Some of them, however, were afraid
| of the journey, and also of the dangers
to be encountered on arrival. These OBJ
jections to the scheme are recounted at
length by Governor Bradford in his
journal. He writes:
Others, from their reasons and
hopes conceived, labored to stir up and
| encourage the rest to undertake and
prosecute the same; others againe. out
of their fears, objected against it and
| sought to divirte from it. alledging
many things, and those neither unrea-
sonable nor improbable as that it was a
great designe and subject to many in
conceivable pirelles and dangers; as
besides the casualties of the seas, the
length of the voyage was such as the
weake bodys of women and other per-
sons worn out with age and traville
could never be able to endure and even
if they should survive the voyage the
miseries of the land which they should
| be exposed unto would be hard to be
borne, and likely to consume and utter
ly to ruin them. for there they should
be liable 70 famine, nakedness and
want
The question of raising sufficien.
money for SO great a voyage was also
a grave obstacle, but the gloomy pict-
ure drawn of the dangers to be incurred
and the prudent reasoning of their lead
ers did not deter that determined band
of religious enthusiasts from the pur-
pose.
All create and honourable actions. o
they replied, are accompanied by
create difficulties. The dangers are
create. but not desperate; the difficult
ties are many, but not invincible'
The Spaniard at that time was
threatening Holland with another war
and he, they argued, might prove as
cruel as the American savage And SO
was decided upon the immortal voyage
that was destined to found one of the
greatest nations of the earth.
After praying God for direction and
ular part of America they should so to-
Some suggested Guiana, it being a rich
and warm climate; others favored Vir-
ginia which was already settled Gui-
| ana was objected to as being too hot
for English people and also from fear of
Spanish jealousy. And, then, if they
went to Virginia they would be in as
great danger of persecution on account
of religion as if they stayed in Eng
land, and perhaps worse. But Virginia
was chosen, and two agents-Robert
Cushman and John Carver-were sent
to England TO pray the King and the
| Virginia Company to grant them a
patent, with special religious privileges
James was glad enough to be rid of
them, but refused to authorize by pub
lie act the religious freedom they asked
! He promised, however to tolerate their
practices as long as they We're peace