By the time anything resembling a language policy was introduced, English had already reached all corners of the globe. For example, English-speaking puritans were not the only Europeans to arrive in North America: Spanish, French, Dutch and German were also widely spoken.
immemorial - long past; beyond the limits of memory or tradition or recorded history; time immemorial. old - of long duration; not new; old tradition; old house; old wine; old country; old friendships; old money.
The servants said they would follow the fashion, a fashion grown sacred through immemorial observ- ance; they would scatter fresh rushes in all the rooms and halls, and then the evidence of the aristocratic visitation would be no longer visible.