As the official representative of the Commonwealth,
I receive it, sir, at your hands. I pledge the faith of the
Commonwealth that for all time it shall be guarded in accordance
with the terms of the decree under which it is delivered into
her possession as one of her chiefest treasures. I express
the thanks of the Commonwealth for the priceless gift, and
I venture the prophecy that for countless years to come and
to untold thousands these mute pages shall eloquently speak
of high resolve, great suffering and heroic endurance made
possible by an absolute faith in the over-ruling providence
of Almighty God."
The Bishop gave the Governor of Massachusetts the right to
deposit the manuscript either in his office at the State
House or with the Massachusetts Historical Society, of which
Archbishop Temple and Bishop Creighton, who succeeded Bishop
Temple in the See of London, were both Honorary members. The
Governor, under my advice, deposited the manuscript in the
State House. It seemed to him and to me that the Commonwealth,
which is made up of the Colony which Bradford founded, and
of which he was Governor, blended with that founded by the
Puritans under Winthrop, was the fitting custodian of the
life in Leyden of the founders of Plymouth, of the voyage
across the sea, and of the first thirty years of the Colony
here.
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