ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE CHARLESTOWN LYCEUM, ON THE 28TH OF JUNE, 1830, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARRIVAL OF GOV ERNOR WINTHROP. THIS day completes the second century, since Governor Winthrop explored the banks of the Mystic River. From his arrival at Charlestown, accompanied by a large number of settlers, furnished with a supply of every thing necessary for the foundation of the colony, and especially, bringing with them the Colonial Charter, may, with great propriety, be dated the foundation of Massachusetts, and in it, that of New-England. There are other interesting events, in our early history, which have, in like manner, been justly commemorated, for their connexion with the same great era. The landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, has been regarded, from the first, as a period, from which we may with propriety, compute the settlement of New-England; and has been celebrated, with every demonstration of pious and grateful respect. The completion of the second century, from the arrival of Governor Endecott at Salem, was noticed two years since, by our fellow citizens of that place, in a manner worthy of the interest and magnitude of the event; and the anniversary of the commencement of the settlement of Boston, is reserved for a like celebration, in the autumn of the present year. Were these celebrations a matter of mere ceremonial observance, their multiplication would be idle and oppressive. But they are all consecrated to events of real interest. They have a tendency to extend the knowledge of the early history of the country. They are just tributes to the memory of worthy men, to whom we are under everlasting obligations. They furnish fit occasions for inculcating the great principles which led to the settlement of our happy country; and by connecting some interesting associations with the spots familiar to us, by daily visitation, they remind us that there is something worthy to be commemorated, in the soil which we inhabit; and thus furnish food for an enlightened patriotism. The genius of our institutions has made this the chief means of perpetuating, by sensible memorials, the fame of excellent men and great achievements. Wisely discarding those establishments, which have connected with hereditary possessions in the soil, and transmissible dignities in the State, the name and family of discoverers and conquerors, it has been, with us, left to the affection and patriotism, by which the observance of these occasions is prompted, to preserve the worth of our forefathers from forgetfulness. For these considerations, it was thought expedient by the members of the Charlestown Lyceum, that the arrival of Governor Winthrop on our shores, with the charter of the colony, should not pass unnoticed. When I was first requested to deliver an address on the occasion, it was my expectation, that it would be done with no greater publicity, than that with which the lectures before this institution have been usually delivered. The event, however, has been considered as of sufficient importance to receive a more public notice; and in this opinion of the members of the Charlestown Lyceum and our fellow citizens who unite with them, I have cheerfully acquiesced. It will not, however, be expected of me, wholly to abandon the form which my address, in its origin, was intended to assume, although less adapted than I could wish, to the character of this vast audience, before which I have the honor to appear. In performing the duty which devolves upon me in consequence of this arrangement, I propose briefly to narrate the history of the event which we celebrate, and then to dwell on some of the general topics, which belong to the day and the occasion. When America was discovered, the great and interesting questions presented themselves, what right had the European discoverers in the new found continent, and in what way were its settlement and colonization to proceed. The first discovery was made, under the auspices of European governments, which admitted the right of the Head of the Catholic Church to dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth; and of course, of all newly discovered regions, which had not before been appropriated. This right of the Head of the Catholic Church. was recognized by Protestant princes, only so far as it might be backed by that of actual discovery;—and although the Kings of Spain and Portugal had received from the Pope a distributive grant of all the newly discovered countries on the globe, the sovereign of England claimed the right of making his own discoveries, and appropriating them as he pleased, to the benefit of his own subjects and government. Under this claim, and in consequence of the discoveries of Cabot, our mother country invested herself with this great and ultimate right of disposing of the American continent, from the gulf of Mexico, northwardly, till it reached the limits covered by the like claim of actual discovery, on the part of other governments.* ment. It is not my intention to enter into the discussion of the nature and extent of this right of discovery. If we admit, that it was the will of Providence, and for the interest of humanity, that America should be settled by a civilized race of men, we admit, at the same time, a perfect right, in some way or other, to effect that settleAnd though it may be out of our power to remove all the difficulties which attend the question,-although we cannot perhaps, on the received principles of natural law, theoretically reconcile the previous rights of the aboriginal population with the accruing rights of the discoverers and settlers, yet we must either allow that those rights are not, upon the whole, irreconcilable, or, we must maintain that it was the will of Providence, and for the greatest good of mankind, that America should remain in the condition in which the discoverers found it. No judicious person, at the present day, will maintain this; and no such opinion was entertained by the governments of Europe, nor by the enterprising, patriotic, and liberal men, on whom it * Opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Johnson & Graham's Lessees vs. McIntosh; 8th Wheaton. devolved to deal practically with this great subject. How great it was, it is true,-they did not feel; as we, with a like subject thrown practically into our hands,-I mean the settlement of our own vacant public domain, are equally insensible to its importance. Although there is a great lodgment of civilized men on this continent, which is rapidly extending itself, yet there is still a vast region wholly unsettled, and presenting very nearly the same aspect to us, which the whole North American continent did to our forefathers, in Great Britain. But no man, I think, who analyzes either the popular sentiment of this community, or the legislative policy of this government, will deny, that the duty to be performed by the people of this generation, in settling these unsettled regions of our country, has scarce ever presented itself in its magnitude, grandeur, and solemnity, to the minds either of people or of rulers. It was justly remarked, more than once this winter, in the great debate in the Senate of the United States, nominally on the subject of the public domain, that this subject was the only one not glanced at in the discussion; and that subject, I may say without fear of contradiction, is as important to the people of the United States, and to the cause of liberty throughout the world, as the question of colonizing America, which presented itself to the nations and governments of Europe, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These questions are never comprehended, till it is too late. Experience alone unfolds their magnitude. We may strain our minds to grasp them, but they are beyond our power. There is no political calculus, which can deal with the vast elements of a nation's growth. Providence, or destiny, or the order of things, in which, while we think ourselves the agents, we are humble instruments, aided by some high impulses from the minds and hearts of wise and great men, catching a prophetic glimpse of the future fortunes of our race,-these decide the progress of nations; and educe consequences the most stupendous, from causes seemingly least proportionate to the effect. But, though we do not find any traces in the public sentiment, or in the legislation of Europe, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of an accurate foresight of the great work which that age was called upon to perform, yet there was unquestionably a dis tinct perception, that the enclosure of the civilized families of the earth had been suddenly enlarged. Spain and Portugal poured themselves forth impetuously into the new found region; and Great Britain, though with something of a constitutional tardiness, followed the example. The first British patents, for the settlement of the discoveries on the North American continent, were those of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, in the latter quarter of the sixteenth century. These and some similar grants were vacated, from inability to fulfil their conditions; or from other causes, failed to take permanent effect. When Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, not a European family was known to exist on the continent of America, north of the gulf of Mexico. On the tenth of April, 1606, King James granted a patent, dividing that portion of North America, which lies between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of latitude, into two nearly equal districts. The southern, called the first colony, he granted to the London Company. The northern, called the second colony, he granted to the Plymouth Company, and allotted it as a place of settlement, to several knights, gentlemen, and merchants of Bristol, Plymouth, and other parts of the west of England. This patent conveyed a grant of the property of the land along the coast for fifty miles, on each side from the place of their first habitation, and extending one hundred miles into the interior. Under these charters, various attempts at colonization and settlement were made, and at first, with very doubtful success, by the Virginia Company. These, of course, it is no part of our present business to pursue. In 1614, the adventurous Captain Smith, famous in his connexion with the settlement of Virginia, was sent out by four individuals in England, who were disposed to engage in an enterprise on these distant shores, to explore the coast of North Virginia. He arrived on the coast of Maine at the end of April, 1614, and in the course of the following summer, he visited the North Eastern shores of America, from the Penobscot river to Cape Cod; entered and examined the rivers, surveyed the country, and carried on a trade with the natives. Having, on his return to England, constructed from his surveys a map of the country, it was submitted to Prince Charles, who gave the name of New |