Maine's 100th Sprague's Journal of-Maine History Vol. VIII Special Number, JUNE, 1920 No. I Maine (By the Editor) pages 3-7 In this year of Our Lord, 1920 the Maine Centennial Committee has for Chairman of its executive branch the Honorable Carl E. Milliken, Governor of the state, and for its able publicity at manager, Mr. Daniel W. Hoeg of Portland, Maine. Maine has in centuries past had other publicity men to demon- strate to the world some of her capabilities and accomplishments; and there have been periods in her history when she was in dire need but entirely destitute of such assistance. If in the tenth cen- tury, Biarne, Eric the Red, Leif and other bold Icelanders had taken a sleek and cleaver publicity man along with them to have made record of their discoveries on the coasts of the Gulf of Maine, as did wise old Captain George Waymouth a hundred years later, we would know more of just how and when Maine was first discovered than we now do. By reason of their inexcusable negligence in this respect we have to depend entirely upon the sagas of the ancient Scandinavians. For many centuries of time in the history of the human race it took about a thousand years to uproot an old, and establish a new idea. When the prosecuting attorney of Athens proceeded against Socrates, the indictment found against him contained this count: Socrates is guilty of crime. First, for not worshipping the gods whom the city worships, and for introducing new divinities of his own. For a very long time the activities of the human race were based upon this hypothesis. That the earth was flat was, for ages, considered an immutable fact. A few had from the remotest time occasionally advocated the theory of it globular shape -- Aristotle and Strabo being among the most famous but it was generally all, regarded as a fantastic idea and had but few adherents. In the fifteenth century Christopher Columbus, when a young man became a sea rover -- historical gossip hinting at piracy as well --- and sailed in unknown waters. In his wanderings he met adven- turous navigators, some of them descendants of the old Norsemen. He had faith in their traditional theories of a western continent and concluded that, despite the contentions of the learned, the world was after all a globe and not a flat piece of land. With the help of the King and Queen of Spain (more especially, it is said, of the Queen) in 1492 he upset this loved and venerable theory by discovering the new western continent. About as soon as the world had awakened to the importance of what had happened Alexander VI, Pope of Rome (1493) issued a bull granting the New World to the sovereigns of Spain and Portu- gal. In that age a papal bull was recognized by Christian nations as a sufficient title to heathen lands. England becoming Protestant did not hesitate to protest against it; and as early as 1495 Henry VII, King of England commissioned John Cabot and his sons of high standing as navigators to "seek out and discover and find what- soever Isles, Countries, Regions or Provinces of the heathens and infidels" hitherto unknown to all Christians, and as vassals of the King, to hold the same by his authority. (1) In 1502 the same King sent forth Hugh Elliott and Thomas Ashurst upon a similar mission. In 1524 Francis I, King of France, evidently questioning the wis- dom of longer following the old precedents regarding the validity of titles to heathen lands based solely upon a papal bull, possibly even then, having a prophetic vision of "New France" across the seas, made his immortal statement to the other nations "that he should like to see the clause in Adams will which gave to his brothers of Spain and Portugal the exclusive possession of the American continent." As a result of this manifesto how is said to have sent out Verraz- zano, a Florentine corsair, who as generally been believed, explored the entire coast for thirty (30) degrees to fifty (50) degrees north latitude and named the whole region New France. (2) The late Charles W. Goddard, Commissioner to revise the stat- utes of Maine, (1883) in his notes on "Sources of Land Titles in Maine," published in his revision, firs page, says that "in 1588 Drake decided the issue regarding the titles to heathen lands by his victory over the Spanish Armada in the British channel." But it is evident that the doctrine was never enforced in reference to lands on the American continent The discovery of America had so changed conditions that it was regarded as an extravagant claim no longer applicable, and it became obsolete. (3) The entire broad expanse of Maine's colonial beginnings is a rich, instructive and enchanting field for the student of history. It leads one back through the vistas of the past to that period of time when by wars and revolutions a new spirit of nationalism was awakening in both England and France. Its roots extend into the very incep- tion of the struggle of the ages for the freedom of mankind. The restlessness of Europeans in the sixteenth century evolved a new and unique class of men whose like the mediaeval world never before had beheld. Abandoning piracy they became explorers, discoverers of new lands and regions. Finding new coasts, bays, islands, mountains and rivers and applying new names to them be- gan to be more attractive than free-booting. Returning with car- goes of peltry and sassafras obtained from savages was a renumer- ative and less dangerous than the vocation of the corsair. And these daring adventurers of the high seas were the first to view the coast and bays of Maine, made our first maps, found our great rivers and marked upon them the places where they emptied their floods into the sea. Their reports inspired the people of Eng- land with a desire to enter upon a career of empire business by add- ing to their dominions new colonies in this new world. They were the precursors of the British stock companies, char- tered and organized to engage in American colonization by such men as the Pophams and Ferdinado Gorges. An entirely new era was dawning upon mankind. In France new ideals burst forth seemingly more lofty than anything the world had known since the days of knighthood in the middle ages. At its inception the movement for colonization there, dominated largely by the Jesuits, was undoubtedly more spiritual than commercial. The government, the people of France and the Society of Jesus, then less than a century old, united upon un- dertaking as startling as it was magnificent. It was plainly a deter- mination to found in this unknown wilderness a new French empire, and to convert to the Christian faith a continent of savages of whose origin, history, traditions, language or habits of life they had not the slightest knowledge. The dawn of the seventeenth century saw enthroned in England and France, Elizabeth and Henry IV, two of the greatest sover- eigns that either kingdom had ever had. They were human. Each had the faults and limitations of the age in which they lived, but each were in harmony --- possibly without a full realization of it -- with many of the revolutions and protests, and with the progressive spirit of the day, which finally broke the bonds of mediaevalism. Maine's 250 miles of natural front of sea coast multiplied (as Gen. Chamberlain estimated it) to an extent of 2500 miles of salt water line, contains some of the most historic footprints resulting from these European political upheavals, to be found in the American continent. Within its extent is also much of the battle ground in the century's conflict between the Anglo Saxon and the Latin for supremacy in the new world. Yet the period which marks the genesis of Maine's history is not all as plain and understandable as might be desired. All were not as adept in publicity service as were Champlain or Captain George Waymouth, who employed James Rosier as publicity man. His "true relation" of the Waymouth's voyage illuminated a page of our history as did later the illustrious and picturesque Captain John Smith. Parts of it are misty though fascinating, and full of ma- terial for romance and poetry. Such was the story of ancient Norumbega, ever appearing upon history's pages, but never explained; never real yet always existing. Its fame attracted voyagers and adventurers for a time, and its be- wildering tales charmed the European mind. If a dream, it was a beautiful one. It was an alluring phantom never chased to it lair. It was the will-o'-the-wisp of Maine's colonial history. And this is but a faint glimpse of the enchanting and romantic prelude to our history as a province, a district, and a state; only a part of what transpired here before the days of Sir William Phips; prior to Madokawando and Baron St. Castin and Sebastian Rale; before the valor of Sir William Pepperrell of Kittery Point had in- scribed his name on the roll of Anglo Saxon heroes; before the revo- lutionary days when the names of Jeremiah O'Brien, Hannah and Rebecca Weston, James Sullivan, Peleg Wadsworth and Commo- dore Tucker appear; before the Act of Separation; before the days of William King and John Holmes; before Longfellow or Hannibal Hamlin, Dorothea Dix or Sir Hiram Maxim; before the days of a host of others equally as famous in each of the periods. (1) Frederick Ridder's pamphlet on "Discovery of North America by John Cabot." N.E. Gen. Reg., Oct., 1878 -- Charlevoix, Vol. 1, p. 20. (2) Chamberlains Cenn. Address, p. 34, and his citations. (3) Wharton's International Law Digest (2d ed.) Vol. 1, p. 8. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.