From this time all traces of its presence in New England disappear, and it was not until almost a century later that it was discovered and identified in the Library of the Bishop of London, at Fulham Palace. It is supposed that the manuscript found its way to England some time between the years 1768 and 1785, being deposited under the title of “The Log of the Mayflower,” at Fulham Palace as the Public Registry for Historical and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to the Diocese of London, and to the Colonial and other Possessions of Great Britain beyond the seas—New Plymouth being, ecclesiastically, attached to the Diocese of London. When compiling his “History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America,” published in 1844, Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, and later of Winchester, delved into the archives of Fulham Palace, and brought under contribution a number of unpublished manuscripts, from which he gave extracts. In 1855 this work fell into the hands of John Wingate Thornton, and, through him, came under the eye of Barry, the author of “The History of Massachusetts,” who recognized that the passages quoted in Wilberforce’s work must come from none other than Bradford’s long-lost annals. Charles Deane was consulted and communicated with Joseph Hunter in England, who visited Fulham Palace Library, and established incontestably the identity of “The Log of the Mayflower” with Bradford’s History. It is still unknown exactly how it found its way to London—but in all probability it was brought over during the War of Independence. From time to time, after its discovery, representations were made to the custodians of the manuscript that it should be restored to America, where its value was inestimable, as one of the earliest records of her National History—in the words of Senator Hoar: “The only authentic history of what we have a right to consider the most important political transaction that has ever taken place on the face of the earth.” Ultimately, the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, the first United States Ambassador to England, instigated by Senator Hoar, put the matter before the Bishop of London—Creighton—at Fulham, with the result that, after due legal sanction by the Constitutional and Episcopal Court of London, the manuscript was conveyed by Mr. Bayard to America, and formally handed over to Governor Roger Wolcott, on July 12th, 1897, for the State Archives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, subject to the production of a photographic facsimile being deposited at Fulham, and to the original manuscript being reasonably accessible for investigation. Its present resting place is the Massachusetts State Library. No words could more vividly depict the feelings in the hearts of Bradford’s descendants, on the return to American soil of this precious relic by the free gift of England, than those of Senator Hoar, which I now quote: