What have they been, those Pilgrims of those days? What was their resolution, their aim, their design? Let me answer in the eloquent words of Mr. Webster's last centennial address: “They have been the personification of humble and peaceable religion flying from causeless oppression, conscience attempting to escape from arbitrary rule, braving a thousand dangers to find here what? A place of refuge and of rest." And what is it they have founded here? A mighty nation, of twenty-four millions, in the short period of two hundred and thirty-two years. Well, that has never entered the thoughts of the boldest of them.

The Revolution of 1775 was no miracle. It was a necessity,— an indication of your people's having come to the lawful age of a nation. Your assuming now the position of a power on earth, as I hope you will, that will again be no miracle. It would be wisdom but the wisdom of doing what is good to humanity and necessary to yourselves. But, the United States of America, a result of the Pilgrim Fathers' landing on Plymouth's Rock,—that is no wisdom, no necessity it is an evident miracle, a work of God. And believe me, gentlemen, the Almighty God never deviates from the common laws of eternity for particular purposes. He never makes a miracle but for the benefit of all the world. By that truth the destiny of America is appointed out, and every destiny implies a duty to fulfil. Happy the people which has the wisdom of its destiny and the resolution of its duties resulting therefrom. But woe to the people which takes not the place which Providence does appoint to it! With the intentions of Providence, and with the decrees of the Almighty, no man can dare to play. Self-reliance is a manly virtue, and no nation has a future which has not that virtue. But to believe that seventy-five years of prodigious growth dispense of every danger and of every care, that would be the surest way to provoke danger and to have much to care. You will judge by this, gentlemen, if it was too much boldness on my part to believe that it is your country's destiny to regenerate the world by maintaining the laws of nations, or too much boldness to claim that which I believe is your destiny. . . .

The visit of Kossuth to the United States, to plead for our interest in the cause of the independence of Hungary, in 1851-52, and the popular demonstration attending it, constitute perhaps the most impressive chapter in the history of the sympathy of our people for other peoples strug gling for freedom. The advent of the American republic in history was as the morning star to lovers of liberty and democracy in Europe and throughout the world. It has been our greatest glory through the century that the workers for freedom and political progress everywhere have looked to us, and that our sympathy and help have gone out to them. We were the friends of Bolivar and the young South American republics; and the history of the declaration of the Monroe Doctrine will be remembered

(see Old South Leaflet, No. 56, on "The Monroe Doctrine"). The speeches of Webster, Clay, and others in behalf of the Greeks, at the time of their uprising against the Turks in 1824, should be read. Our sympathy went out to Garibaldi and Mazzini, as again and again to the republicans of France and of Germany, so many of whom, when fortunes were adverse, have found their homes among us. Our sympathy for the oppressed people of Cuba led ultimately to armed interference in their behalf. American influences have been second to no other in the political new birth of Japan; and the reformers in Servia and Bulgaria drew their inspiration largely from Robert College.

as the

Kossuth arrived in America in December, 1851. He came guest of the nation. The President and Congress had officially declared their sympathy; and the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, replying shortly before to the Austrian minister's remonstrances against our expressions of interest in the Hungarian cause, had firmly declared that no spectacle could ever enlist the sympathies of the American people more deeply than that of a nation struggling to maintain or gain its independence. Kossuth's reception in New York was something unparalleled in its enthusiasm, and this enthusiasm continued everywhere until his departure. His speech before the Corporation of New York, December 11, was perhaps the ablest and most comprehensive which he delivered, appealing to the utterances of Washington and the fathers as justification for the republic's active interest in the cause of freedom and self-government in all the world. This speech, together with the speeches in Philadelphia, Washington, etc., is printed in the appendix to Headley's Life of Kossuth. From Washington, Kossuth went to the West and the South; and in April, 1852, he came to New England, speaking to enormous crowds in Boston, New Haven, Springfield, Worcester, Lowell, and a score of places. There is a special volume, "Kossuth in New England,” devoted to this visit, including the various addresses. Governor George S. Boutwell welcomed Kossuth to the State of Massachusetts, President Henry Wilson to the Senate, and Speaker N. P. Banks to the House of Representatives; and their speeches, as well as Kossuth's replies, should be read, as expressing the sentiment of the time. Kossuth made three speeches in Faneuil Hall, the first at a public meeting on the evening of April 29, the second at a legislative banquet on the following evening, the third on May 14. The first of these speeches is that here reprinted, together with the speeches at Concord and (in part) Plymouth. See Charles Sumner's speech, "Welcome to Kossuth" (Sumner's Works, iii. 3). This was Sumner's first speech in the Senate, Dec. 10, 1851. See also Sumner's letter on "Sympathy with the Rights of Men Everywhere" (Works, ii. 444).

PUBLISHED BY

THE DIRECTORS OF THE OLD SOUTH WORK, Old South Meeting-house, Boston, Mass.

Old South Leaflets.

No. 112.

King Alfred's Description of Europe.

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF KING ALFRED'S TRANSLATION OF OROSIUS, WITH HIS ORIGINAL INSERTIONS.

on

1. Our elders, said Orosius, divided into three parts all the globe of this mid-earth, as it is surrounded by the ocean, which we call Garsecg; * and they named the three parts by three names, Asia and Europe and Africa; though some said there were but two parts, one Asia and the other Europe. 2. ASIA is encompassed by the ocean -the garsecg the south, north, and east; and so, on the east part, contains one half of this mid-earth. Then on the north part of Asia, on the right hand,† in the river Don, there the boundaries of Asia and Europe lie together; and from the same river Don, south along the Mediterranean Sea, towards the west of the city Alexandria, Asia and Africa lie together.

3. EUROPE begins, as I said before, at the river Don, which runs from the north part of the Rhipæan Mountains, which are near the ocean, called Sarmatian. The river Don runs thence right south, on the west side of Alexander's altars to the nation of the Roxolani. It forms the fen which is called Mæotis [Sea of Azov]; and then runs forth, with a great flood, near the city called Theodosia [Kaffa], flowing eastward into the Black Sea; and then, in a long strait, south-easterly, where the Greek city Constantinople lies, and thence out into the Mediterranean Sea. The south-west boundary of Europe is the ocean, on the west

*Mr. Hampson suggests that the myth of an armed man,-a spear-man,- being employed by the Anglo-Saxons as a term to denote the Ocean, has some analogy to the personification of Neptune holding his trident.

↑ In tracing the frontier of Asia from north to south, the Don is on the right hand.

of Spain, and chiefly at the island Cadiz, where the Mediterranean Sea shoots up from the ocean; where, also, the pillars of Hercules stand. On the west end of the same Mediterranean Sea is Scotland [Ireland].*

4. The division between AFRICA and Asia begins at Alexandria, a city of Egypt; and the boundary lies thence south, by the river Nile, and so over the desert of Ethiopia to the southern ocean. The north-west limit of Africa is the Mediterranean Sea, which shoots from the ocean, where the pillars of Hercules stand; and its end, right west, is the mountain which is named Atlas, and the island called Canary.

5. I have already spoken shortly about the three parts of this mid-earth; but I will now, as I promised before, tell the boundaries of these three regions, how they are separated by

water.

6. Over against the middle of Asia, at the east end, there the mouth of the river called Ganges opens into the ocean, which they call the Indian Ocean. South from the river's mouth, by the ocean, is the port they call Calymere. To the south-east of the port is the island of Ceylon; and then to the north of the mouth of the Ganges, where Mount Caucasus ends, near the ocean, there is the port Samera. To the north of the port is the mouth of the river, named Ottorogorre. They call the ocean Chinese.

7. These are the boundaries of India, where Mount Caucasus is on the north, and the river Indus on the west, and the Red Sea on the south, and the ocean on the east. In the district of India are forty-four nations; and, besides many other

*This last sentence is an addition by Alfred. In early times, Ireland was called Scotland. In paragraph 28, Alfred says, "Ireland we call Scotland." Ireland was exclusively called Scotia or Scotland from the fifth to the tenth or eleventh century. The first we hear of the Scoti, or Scots, is as a people inhabiting Ireland. In the fifth century they contended with the Hiberni, the earlier inhabitants, and soon gained supreme power, and gave their name to the country. About A.D. 503 a colony of these Scoti, having given their name to Ireland, emigrated to North Britain, gained influence there, and also imposed their name on that country. But Ireland is north of Spain. Ancient geographers placed Ireland much more to the south; and Alfred, being guided by them, speaks of it as being on the west of Spain. Orosius erroneously says, Hibernia insula, inter Britanniam et Hispaniam sita. Correct information was not supplied till after the time of Alfred. Though, in most cases, he was in advance of his age, yet in regard to the position of Ireland he appears to have fallen into the error of the time.

The modern names of places are given in the translation, except where the old name is almost as familiar as the modern designation. When the position or present name cannot be discovered, there is no alternative but to retain the word used in the Anglo-Saxon text.

The Red Sea, in ancient geography, comprehended not only the present Red Sea, but what we now call the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Thus the Tigris, as well as the Indus, are said to run into the Red Sea; and the whole country between the Indus and the Tigris is described as having the Red Sea for its southern boundary.

inhabited islands, the island of Ceylon, which has in it ten towns. The river Indus lies to the west of the district; between the river Indus and that which lies to the west of it called Tigris, both of which flow south into the Red Sea,— between these two rivers are these countries,- Arachosia [Candahor] and Parthia and Assyria and Persia and Media, though writers often name all these countries Media or Assyria; and they are very mountainous, and there are very sharp and stony ways. The northern boundaries of these countries are the Caucasian Mountains, and on the south side the Red Sea. In these countries are two great rivers, Hydaspes [Jhylum] and Arabis [Pooralee]. In this district are thirty-two nations: now it is all called Parthia.

8. Then west from the river Tigris to the river Euphrates, between the rivers, are these countries,- Babylonia and Chaldea and Mesopotamia. Within these countries are twentyeight nations. Their northern boundaries are the mountains Taurus and Caucasus, and their southern boundaries lie to the Red Sea. Along the Red Sea- the part that shoots to the north-lies the country of Arabia and Saba [Saade], and Eudomane. From the river Euphrates, west to the Mediterranean and north almost to the mountains which are called Taurus, to the country which they call Armenia, and again south to Egypt, there are many nations in these districts; that is, Comagena and Phoenicia and Damascus and Coelle and Moab and Ammon and Idumea and Judea and Palestine and Saracene; though it is all called Syria. Then to the north of Syria are the mountains, called Taurus; and to the north of the mountains are the countries of Cappadocia and Armenia. Armenia is to the east of .Cappadocia. To the west of Cappadocia is the country called Asia the Less. To the north of Cappadocia is the plain of Themiscyra. Then between Cappadocia and Asia the Less is the country of Cilicia and Isauria. This Asia is, on every side, surrounded with salt water, except on the east. On the north side is the Black Sea; and on the west the sea of Marmora, and the Dardanelles; and the Mediterranean Sea on the south. the same Asia the highest mountain is Olympus.

In

9. To the north of the nearer Egypt is the country of Palestine, and to the east of it the district of the Saracens, and to the west the country of Libya, and to the south the mountain called Climax. The spring of the river Nile is near the