he continent; accomplish the
whole of your great destiny; and if so be, that through the whole you
carry Puritan hearts with you; if you still cherish an undying love of
civil and religious liberty, and mean to enjoy them yourselves, and are
willing to shed your heart's blood to transmit them to your posterity,
then are you worthy descendants of Carver and Allerton and Bradford, and
the rest of those who landed from stormy seas on the rock of Plymouth."
[Loud and prolonged cheers.]

Gentlemen, that little vessel, on December 22, 1620, made her safe
landing on the shore of Plymouth. She had been tossed on a tempestuous
ocean; she approached the New England coast under circumstances of great
distress and trouble; yet amidst all the disasters of her voyage, she
accomplished her end, and she placed the feet of a hundred precious
souls on the shore of the New World.

Gentlemen, let her be considered this night as an emblem of New England,
as New England now is. New England is a ship, stanch, strong,
well-built, and particularly well-manned. She may be occasionally thrown
into the trough of the sea, by the violence of winds and waves, and may
wallow there for a time; but, depend upon it, she will right herself.
She will, ere long, come round to the wind, and will obey her helm.
[Cheers and applause.]

We have hardly begun, my brethren, to realize the vast importance, on
human society, and on the history and happiness of the world, of the
voyage of that little vessel which brought the love of civil and
religious liberty hither, and the Bible, the Word of God, for the
instruction of the future generations of men. We have hardly begun to
realize the consequences of that voyage. Heretofore the extension of our
race, following our New England ancestry, has crept along the shore. But
now the race has extended. It has crossed the continent. It has not only
transcended the Alleghany, but has capped the Rocky Mountains. It is now
upon the shores of the Pacific; and on this day, or if not on this day,
then this day twelvemonth, descendants of New England will there
celebrate the landing--[A Voice: "To-day; they celebrate to-day."]

God bless them! Here's to the health and success of the California
Society of Pilgrims assembled on the shores of the Pacific. [Prolonged
applause.] And it shall yet go hard, if the three hundred millions of
people of China--if they are intelligent enough to understand
anything--shall not one day hear an