R,
B. H. COATES,
EDW. ARMSTRONG.

To MR. BRANTZ MAYER, BALTIMORE.

BALTIMORE, _15th April, 1852_.

GENTLEMEN:

I am much obliged to the PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, for the
complimentary resolution it was pleased to pass in relation to the
Discourse I delivered before it on the 8th of this month. In compliance
with your request, I place a copy of the address at your disposal; and,
while thanking you for the courtesy with which you have communicated the
vote of your colleagues, I have the honor to be, your most obedient
servant,

BRANTZ MAYER.

To MESSIEURS JOB R. TYSON, }
J. FRANCIS FISHER,} Committee, &c. &c. &c.
B. H. COATES, }
EDW. ARMSTRONG, }

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Joseph Hunter's "Collections concerning the Early History of the
Founders of New Plymouth." London, 1849: No 2 of his Critical and
Historical Tracts, p. 14.

[2] It is believed by historians that Sir Walter Raleigh fell a victim
to the intrigues of Spain at the Court of James. His American adventures
and hardihood were dangerous to the Spanish Empire. A small pamphlet
entitled: A NEW DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA, published in London in 1619, a
reprint of which is possessed by the Virginia Historical Society, shows
how the prophetic fears of the Spaniard, even at that early time,
conjured up the warning phantom of Anglo-Saxon "_annexation._"

"It is well known," says the pamphlet, "that our English plantations
have had little countenance; nay, that our statesmen, (when time was,)
had store of Gundemore's gold," (meaning Gondomar, Spanish Minister at
James's Court)--"_to destroy_ and discountenance the plantation of
Virginia; and he effected it, in great part, by dissolving the company,
wherein most of the nobility, gentry, corporate cities, and most
merchants of England, were interested and engaged; after the expense of
some hundred of thousands of pounds; for Gundemore did affirm to his
friends, that he had commission from his master"--(the King of
Spain,)--"to destroy that plantation. For, said he, should they thrive
and go on increasing, as they have done under that popular Lord of
Southampton, _my master's West Indies_, AND HIS MEXICO, _would shortly
be visited by sea and by land, from those Planters in Virginia_."

Generals Scott and Taylor--both sons of Virginia--have verified, in the
nineteenth century, the foresight of the cautious statesman