upon a table at which Miles Standish and John Alden sat, and upon which
should be spread viands of which John Alden and Miles Standish and the
rest, two hundred and seventy-three years ago, partook. I would fain see
something more, or rather I would fain hear something more--and that is,
the sentiments of those who gathered about that table, and the measure
in which those sentiments accorded with the sentiments of those who sit
at these tables to-night. [Applause.] Why, Mr. President, the viands of
which John Alden and Miles Standish partook did not differ more
radically from the splendor of this banquet than did the sentiments with
which the Puritans came to these shores differ from the sentiments of
the men who gather in this room to-night. If it had happened to them as
it happened to a distinguished company in New England, where an eminent
New England divine was called upon to lead in prayer, their feelings
would have been as little wounded as those against whom he offered up
his petition; or rather, if I were here to-night to denounce their
sentiments as to religious toleration, in which they did not believe;
their sentiments as to the separation of the Church from the State, in
which they did not believe any more than they believed in religious
toleration; their sentiments as to Democracy, in which they did not
believe any more than they believed in religious toleration--those of us
who are here and who do believe in these things would be as little
wounded as the company to which I have referred. The distinguished
divine to whom I have alluded was called upon to offer prayer, some
fifty years ago, in a mixed company, when, in accordance with the custom
of the times, he included in his petition to the Almighty a large
measure of anathema, as "We beseech Thee, O Lord! to overwhelm the
tyrant! We beseech Thee to overwhelm and to pull down the oppressor! We
beseech Thee to overwhelm and pull down the Papist!" And then opening
his eyes, and seeing that a Roman Catholic archbishop and his secretary
were present, he saw he must change the current of his petitions if he
would be courteous to his audience, and said vehemently, "We beseech
Thee, O Lord! we beseech Thee--we beseech Thee--we beseech Thee to pull
down and overwhelm the Hottentot!" Said some one to him when the prayer
was over, "My dear brother, why were you so hard upon the Hottentot?"
"Well," said he, "the fact is, when I opened my eyes and looked around,
betwe