The New York herald., 1921-01-02
The Pilgrim Republic: a Parable
Several NatonaIities Helped to Found the Plymouth
Colony and to Frame Its Institutions.

In q large sense the Pilgrim COM
pany at Leyden. made up chiefly Of
English and Welsh folks but with
eight nationaIities represented In its
body, was type and parable Of the
American commonwealth.
At first scattered and unknown to
each other and coming from all parts
Of Great Britain. they were during
their eleven years discipline in Leyden
under John Robinsons leadership COM
pacted into unity of aim and pur-
pose. That purpose. clearly shown IN
their record, confessions, writings.
acts and policy. and consistently fol-
lowed was to form free church In
q free state and to allow to others the
same freedom. It was antipodally diff
ferent from that of the exclusive, per-
scouting and often bigoted Puritans
whom they had eft behind. These
independents weJ- separated as far
from both throne and centralized au-
tocracy in religion as they are from
some Of the false notions still held by
those who confuse them with the state
churchmen.
Furthermore, the Pilgrims, as is
shown by the Dutch municipal ar
chives and civic documents, In which
their marriages and places OF birth or
dornicile are recorded, were as far
from being Of unmixed origin as they
were from being unanimous In their
opinions on minor subjects.
The popular version Of the history OF
American origins as set forth In most
Of our school books-long written
chiefly In one section OF the coun-
try-virtually ignores the facts OF
both our composite ancestry and OF
frontier and Indigenous influences.
The majority Of our current dra-
matte, fctional and pictorial repre-
sentations OF the Pilgrims are based
on locally hardened traditions. These
look too steadily at the gate money
and box office receipts They have too
long kept up the notion that we are an
annex to Great Britain and only q
daughter nation Of England.
The recorded facts were long ago
brought out quite accidentally by the
Dutch scholars. These gentlemen.
church historians seeking their own,
while searching the municipal ar
chives of Amsterdam and Leyden long
before Americans or Englishmen be-
gan the work, found no fewer than
eight nationalities among these Sep
aratists. In word. Professor de
Hoop Schaeffer. the Mennonite scholar,
and Messrs. Kist and Swalue, the Re-
formed Church pastors, made eXami-
nation for the purpose Of looking up
the history of their own forebears and
fellow believers, and in publication
preceded our own researchers. they
found also that four languages, Dutch.
English, Welsh and French, were
spoken among these Leyden Separa-
lists. 1t is highly probable also that
all the children born In the republic,
who later formed the young and
strong settlers Of Plymouth. spoke
Dutch. The Netherlands adds testi-
mony also to the cosmopolitan char
acter Of the Leyden company whose
representatives came over before 1923,
not only in the Mayflower but also
In the later Pilgrim ships Fortune.
Ann, Handmade and Little James;
that is, previous to the arrival Of the
state church Puritans Of Boston and
Salem.
When by the first mail in America
north Of the Hudson letter was sent
by Governor Minuit from Manhattan
to Plymouth 1t was penned In the
languages of both the Netherlands and
France. Bradford the Pilgrim an
swered this missive in Dutch. which
he spoke and wrote.
Into the fellowship Of the church
at Leyden all members Of the Re-
formed churches of the countries rep
resented In II were welcomed. To them
the sectarian lingo of later date. and
even the elaborate Puritan creeds Of
New England, were unknown. Even
the term Pilgrim" was not written
by them, nor even Of them. until
Bradford, about 1885, In his manu-
script used It in quotation and. only
In a spiritual sense. The phrase Pill
grim Fathers was first heard in 1799
the first public commemoration OF
them having been in 1765.
Moreover. 1t has never been proved
that Miles Standish, who was not