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person had died, they espied land, and in two days more were safely moored in the harbour of Cape Cod. Dutch cupidity and English intolerance combined to effect the first settlement of New England: yet, before they landed, the manner in which their government should be constituted was considered; and, as some were observed not to be well affected to unity and concord, they formed themselves into a body-politic by a solemn voluntary compact: "In the name of God, Amen! We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign, king James, having undertaken, for the glory of God and advancement of Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant a first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil bodypolitic for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof, to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the colony. Unto which we promise all due submission and obedience." This instrument was signed by the whole body of the men, forty-one in number, who, with their families, constituted the one hundred and one-" the proper democracy"-that arrived in New England. John Cawes was immediately and unanimously chosen governor for the year. Men who emigrate even in well inhabited districts, pray that their journey may not be in the winter. Wasted by the rough and wearisome voyage, ill supplied with provisions, the English fugitives found themselves, at the opening of winter, on a bleak and barren coast, in a severe climate, with the ocean on one side and the wilderness on the other. There were none to show them kindness or bid them welcome. The nearest French settlement was at Port Royal: it was five hundred miles to the English plantation at Virginia. As they attempted to disembark, the water was found so shallow they were forced to wade; and, in the freezing weather, the very act of getting on land sowed the seeds of consumption and inflammatory colds. The bitterness of mortal disease was their welcome to the inhospitable shore. The season was already fast bringing winter, and the spot of their settlement remained to be chosen. The shallop was unshipped, and it was a real disaster to find that it needed repairs. The

carpenter made slow work, so that sixteen weary days elapsed before it was ready for service. But Standish and Bradford and others, impatient of the delay, determined to explore the country by land. In regard to the danger, the expedition was rather permitted than approved. Much hardship was endured; but what discoveries could be made in Truro, and near the banks of Pasmet Creek? The first expedition in the shallop was likewise unsuccessful. "Some of the people that died that winter, took the original of their death" in the enterprize, "for it snowed and did blow all the day and night, and freeze withal. The men who were sent on shore were tired with walking up and down the steep hills and deep valleys, which lay half a foot thick with snow." A heap of maize was discovered, and further search led to a burial place of the Indians; but they found no more corn, nor any thing but graves! At length the shallop was again set out, with Cawes, Bradford, Winslow, Standish, and others, with eight or ten seamen. The cold was severe; the spray of the sea froze as it fell upon them, and made their clothes like coats of iron. That day they reached Billingsgate Point, at the bottom of Cape Cod, on the western shore of Wellfleet harbour. The next day the company divided. Those on shore found a burial place, graves, and four or five deserted wigwams, but neither people, nor any place inviting a settlement. Before night the whole party met by the seaside, and encamped on land together, near Wamskeket, or Great Meadow Creek. The next day they arose at five; their morning prayers were finished, when, as the day dawned, a war-whoop and a flight of arrows announced an attack from the Indians. They were of the tribe of the Nausites, who knew the English as kidnappers; but the encounter was without further result. Again the boat's crew gave thanks to God, and steered their bark along the coast for the distance of fifteen leagues, but no convenient harbour was discovered. The pilot of the boat, who had been in these regions before, gives assurance of a good one which might be reached before night, and they follow his guidance. After some hours sailing, a storm of snow and rain begins, the sea swells, the rudder breaks; the boat must now be steered with oars; the storm increases; night is at hand; to reach the harbour before dark, as much sail as possible is borne; the mast breaks into three pieces, the sails fall overboard; but the tide is favourable. The pilot, in dismay, would have run the boat ashore in a cove full

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of breakers. "About with her," exclaimed a sailor, or we are cast away!" They get her about immediately, and, passing over the surf, they enter a fair sound, and get under the lee of a small rise of land. It is dark, and the rain beats furiously; yet the men are so wet and cold and weak, they slight the danger to be apprehended from the savages, and, after great difficulty, kindle a fire on shore. Morning, as it dawned, showed the place to be a small island within the entrance of a harbour. The day was required for rest and preparations: time was precious; the season advancing; their companions were left in suspense. The next day was the "CHRISTIAN SABBATH." Nothing marks the character of the pilgrims more fully, than that they kept it sacredly, though every consideration demanded haste. On Monday, the 11th day of Dec. (1620) the exploring forefathers landed at Plymouth, a grateful posterity has marked the "ROCK" which first received their footsteps. The consequences of that day are constantly unfolding themselves as time advances. It was the origin of New England institutions. Inquisitive historians have loved to mark every vestige of the pilgrims; poets of the finest minds have commemorated their virtues; the noblest geniuses have been called into exercise to display their merits worthily, and to trace the consequences of their daring enterprize. The spot, when examined, seemed to invite a settlement: and in a few days the Mayflower was safely moored in its harbour. In memory of the hospitalities the company had received at the last English port at which they had sailed, this oldest New England colony obtained the name of Plymouth. The system of civil government had been established by common agreement; the character of the church had for many years been fixed by a sacred covenant. When the pilgrims landed, their institutions were already perfected, and democratic liberty and independent Christian worship at once existed in America!

RESULTS OF NAVIGATION.

By means of ships traversing the great waters, Britain has been enabled to explore the north and the south, the east and the west, and to draw the rich gains of manufacture, trade, and commerce, from all quarters of the

world. The world itself, for the present and future ages, has an interest-a deep and lasting interest-in the peculiar success of her intellectual and commercial intercourse with the various tribes and nations into which the human race is divided. By means of ships of great burden and power traversing the waters, our country has acquired and established the sway of an empire peculiarly enlightened and wise, and mild and beneficent, over one hundred millions of people, which amount to more than one-tenth part of the inhabitants of the whole world!

Her daughter also, in the western world, who has set up for herself, is proceeding rapidly, by the same means, to establish a most useful influence among the nations of the earth. In fine, by means of ships carried on the waters in all directions and to the greatest distances, our country has been prepared to take the lead in the glorious enterprise of turning all people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto GOD, that they may receive remission of sins, and renovation of nature through the grace which is in Christ; and that they may, in due season, be admitted to possess a kingdom of righteousness and peace, and holy joy, destined to be stable as the throne of God and lasting as eternity!

PROPERTIES OF THE AIR.

WHAT amazing effects are produced by the rapid motions of thin air!

By comparing the relative density and weight of gold, water, and air, some idea may be formed of the thinness and lightness of that air, which, when put in rapid motion, forms the STORMY WIND! Gold is nineteen times more dense and heavy than water; and yet water is eight hundred times more dense and heavy than air. But though the air be so comparatively rare and light, yet, in the storm and in the tempest, it acquires such power from the terrible rapidity of its motion, that it sweeps the crops from the face of the earth, tears the largest trees from the soil, overturns the dwellings of men, and covers the land with death, desolation, and misery.

Unspeakably more terrible still are its effects ON THE WATERS. "The stormy wind lifts up the waves of the deep" in horrible commotion. In harbours, roadsteads,

straits, and inland seas, it drives ships from their moorings, from their anchors, from their course, and dashes them to pieces on rocks, on shoals, and on one another.

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Far from land, perhaps, on the face of the great abyss, and, it may be, in the darkness of the night, and while no symptom of its approach has been observed, the whirlwind or hurricane carries, in an instant, the masts away by the board, sweeping sails, yards, rigging, boats, and seamen— all that was above-board-into the merciless waves. If the hull of the ship still float, sustaining a few of the ship's surviving company, what terrible wonders of Jehovah do they behold in the deep! How are the waves lifted up," rolled along, and broken down before the impetuous tempest ! Who can look on the dreadful and ungovernable tumult of "the great waters," without feeling the littleness of man, and the majesty of HIM who "sitteth on the floods and commandeth the stormy wind?" Who, even at a distance from such scenes of distress and dismay, can think of the wreck and desolation, of the terror and distraction produced by the "stormy wind" on the land and on the waters, without standing in awe, and trembling before the majesty and power of Jehovah? But whatever we may feel in thinking, when at a distance, concerning the tempest and its effects, those who are actually tossed about on the ocean by the raging fury of its waves, are inevitably awed by it, and are overpowered by the terrors of the scene. Most striking is the representation made by the inspired Psalmist (who does not appear to have ever been on the sea) when speaking of

seamen :

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They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble; they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end."

Only those who have witnessed the scene so finely represented in these words, can form an adequate idea of its grandeur, majesty, and terror. S. F.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE NOBLE SPIRIT OF ADMIRAL LORD EXMOUTH.

"THE strong mind and fertile genius of our commander kept the young mids in particular in constant employment.

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