Such at that time were the crowned sovereigns of Europe, whose names were mentioned always with awe, and whose countenances are handed down by art, so that at this day they are visible to the curious as if they walked these streets.  Mark now the contrast.  There was no artist for our forefathers, nor are their countenances now known to men; but more than any powerful contemporaries at whose tread the earth trembled is their memory sacred.  Pope, emperor, king, sultan, grand-duke, duke, doge, margrave, landgrave, count—­what are they all by the side of the humble company that landed on Plymouth Rock?  Theirs indeed, were the ensigns of worldly power, but our Pilgrims had in themselves that inborn virtue which was more than all else besides, and their landing was an epoch.

Who in the imposing troop of worldly grandeur is now remembered but with indifference or contempt?  If I except Gustavus Adolphus, it is because he revealed a superior character.  Confront the Mayflower and the Pilgrims with the potentates who occupied such space in the world.  The former are ascending into the firmament, there to shine forever, while the latter have been long dropping into the darkness of oblivion, to be brought forth only to point a moral or illustrate the fame of contemporaries whom they regarded not.  Do I err in supposing this an illustration of the supremacy which belongs to the triumphs of the moral nature?  At first impeded or postponed, they at last prevail.  Theirs is a brightness which, breaking through all clouds, will shine forth with ever-increasing splendor.  I have often thought that if I were a preacher, if I had the honor to occupy the pulpit so grandly filled by my friend near me, one of my sermons should be from the text, “A little leaven shall leaven the whole lump.”  Nor do I know a better illustration of these words than the influence exerted by our Pilgrims.  That small band, with the lesson of self-sacrifice, of just and equal laws, of the government of a majority, of unshrinking loyalty to principle, is now leavening this whole continent, and in the fulness of time will leaven the world.  By their example, republican institutions have been commended, and in proportion as we imitate them will these institutions be assured.

Liberty, which we so much covet, is not a solitary plant.  Always by its side is justice.  But Justice is nothing but right applied to human affairs.  Do not forget, I entreat you, that with the highest morality is the highest liberty.  A great poet, in one of his inspired sonnets, speaking of his priceless possession, has said, “But who loves that must first be wise and good.”  Therefore do Pilgrims in their beautiful example teach liberty, teach republican institutions, as at an earlier day, Socrates and Plato, in their lessons of wisdom, taught liberty and helped the idea of the republic.  If republican government has thus far failed in any experiment, as, perhaps, somewhere in Spanish America, it is because these lessons have been wanting.  There have been no Pilgrims to teach the moral law.