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diff --git a/16294.txt b/16294.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc91fb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/16294.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11241 @@ +Project Gutenberg's England in America, 1580-1652, by Lyon Gardiner Tyler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: England in America, 1580-1652 + +Author: Lyon Gardiner Tyler + +Release Date: July 14, 2005 [EBook #16294] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND IN AMERICA, 1580-1652 *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gary Houston and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +ENGLAND IN AMERICA + +1580-1652 + +By + +Lyon Gardiner Tyler, LL.D. + +J. & J. Harper Editions +Harper & Row, Publishers +New York and Evanston + +1904 by Harper & Brothers. + +[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1552-1618). From an engraving by +Robinson after a painting by Zucchero.] + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. PAGE + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xiii + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE xix + + I. GENESIS OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION (1492-1579) 3 + + II. GILBERT AND RALEIGH COLONIES (1583-1602) 18 + + III. FOUNDING OF VIRGINIA (1602-1608) 34 + + IV. GLOOM IN VIRGINIA (1608-1617) 55 + + V. TRANSITION OF VIRGINIA (1617-1640) 76 + + VI. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF VIRGINIA (1634-1652) 100 + + VII. FOUNDING OF MARYLAND (1632-1650) 118 + + VIII. CONTENTIONS IN MARYLAND (1633-1652) 134 + + IX. FOUNDING OF PLYMOUTH (1608-1630) 149 + + X. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PLYMOUTH (1621-1643) 163 + + XI. GENESIS OF MASSACHUSETTS (1628-1630) 183 + + XII. FOUNDING OF MASSACHUSETTS (1630-1642) 196 + + XIII. RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS (1631-1638) 210 + + XIV. NARRAGANSETT AND CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENTS (1635-1637) 229 + + XV. FOUNDING OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN (1637-1652) 251 + + XVI. NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE (1653-1658) 266 + + XVII. COLONIAL NEIGHBORS (1643-1652) 282 + +XVIII. THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION (1643-1654) 297 + + XIX. EARLY NEW ENGLAND LIFE 318 + + XX. CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES 328 + +INDEX 341 + + +MAPS + +ROANOKE ISLAND, JAMESTOWN, AND ST. MARY'S +(1584-1632) _facing_ 34 + +CHART OF VIRGINIA, SHOWING INDIAN AND +EARLY ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS IN 1632 76 + +VIRGINIA IN 1652 99 + +MARYLAND IN 1652 133 + +NEW ENGLAND (1652) _facing_ 196 + +MAINE IN 1652 265 + +NEW SWEDEN AND NEW NETHERLAND 296 + + +[Transcriber's Note: This text retains original spellings. Also, +superscripted abbreviations or contractions are indicated by the +use of a caret (^), such as w^th (with).] + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +Some space has already been given in this series to the English and +their relation to the New World, especially the latter half of +Cheyney's _European Background of American History_, which deals with +the religious, social, and political institutions which the English +colonists brought with them; and chapter v. of Bourne's _Spain in +America_, describing the Cabot voyages. This volume begins a detailed +story of the English settlement, and its title indicates the +conception of the author that during the first half-century the +American colonies were simply outlying portions of the English nation, +but that owing to disturbances culminating in civil war they had the +opportunity to develop on lines not suggested by the home government. + +The first two chapters deal with the unsuccessful attempts to plant +English colonies, especially by Gilbert and Raleigh. These beginnings +are important because they proved the difficulty of planting colonies +through individual enterprise. At the same time the author brings out +clearly the various motives for colonization--the spirit of adventure, +the desire to enjoy a new life, and the intent to harm the commerce of +the colonies of Spain. + +In chapters iii. to vi. the author describes the final founding of the +first successful colony, Virginia, and emphasizes four notable +characteristics of that movement. The first is the creation of +colonizing companies (a part of the movement described in its more +general features by Cheyney in his chapters vii. and viii.). The +second is the great waste of money and the awful sacrifice of human +life caused by the failure of the colonizers to adapt themselves to +the conditions of life in America. That the people of Virginia should +be fed on grain brought from England, should build their houses in a +swamp, should spend their feeble energies in military executions of +one another is an unhappy story made none the pleasanter by the +knowledge that the founders of the company in England were spending +freely of their substance and their effort on the colony. The third +element in the growth of Virginia is the introduction of the staple +crop, always in demand, and adapted to the soil of Virginia. Tobacco, +after 1616, speedily became the main interest of Virginia, and without +tobacco it must have gone down. A fourth characteristic is the early +evidence of an unconquerable desire for self-government, brought out +in the movements of the first assembly of 1619 and the later colonial +government: here we have the germ of the later American system of +government. + +The founding of the neighboring colony of Maryland (chapters vii. and +viii.) marks the first of the proprietary colonies; it followed by +twenty-five years and had the advantage of the unhappy experience of +Virginia and of very capable management. The author shows how little +Maryland deserves the name of a Catholic colony, and he develops the +Kent Island episode, the first serious boundary controversy between +two English commonwealths in America. + +To the two earliest New England colonies are devoted five chapters +(ix. to xiii.), which are treated not as a separate episode but as +part of the general spirit of colonization. Especial attention is paid +to the development of popular government in Massachusetts, where the +relation between governor, council, and freemen had an opportunity to +work itself out. Through the transfer of the charter to New England, +America had its first experience of a plantation with a written +constitution for internal affairs. The fathers of the Puritan +republics are further relieved of the halo which generations of +venerating descendants have bestowed upon them, and appear as human +characters. Though engaging in a great and difficult task, and while +solving many problems, they nevertheless denied their own fundamental +precept of the right of a man to worship God according to the dictates +of his own conscience. + +Chapters xiv. to xvi. describe the foundation of the little +settlements in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Haven, New Hampshire, +and Maine; and here we have an interesting picture of little towns for +a time standing quite independent, and gradually consolidating into +commonwealths, or coalescing with more powerful neighbors. Then follow +(chapters xvii. and xviii.) the international and intercolonial +relations of the colonies, and especially the New England +Confederation, the first form of American federal government. + +A brief sketch of the conditions of social life in New England +(chapter xix.) brings out the strong commercial spirit of the people +as well as their intense religious life and the narrowness of their +social and intellectual status. The bibliographical essay is +necessarily a selection from the great literature of early English +colonization, but is a conspectus of the most important secondary +works and collections of sources. + +The aim of the volume is to show the reasons for as well as the +progress of English colonization. Hence for the illustration Sir +Walter Raleigh has been chosen, as the most conspicuous colonizer of +his time. The freshness of the story is in its clear exposition of the +terrible difficulties in the way of founding self-sustaining +colonies--the unfamiliar soil and climate, Indian enemies, internal +dissensions, interference by the English government, vague and +conflicting territorial grants. Yet out of these difficulties, in +forty-five years of actual settlement, two southern and six or seven +northern communities were permanently established, in the face of the +opposition and rivalry of Spain, France, and Holland. For this task +the editor has thought that President Tyler is especially qualified, +as an author whose descent and historical interest connect him both +with the northern and the southern groups of settlements. + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + +This book covers a period of a little more than three-quarters of a +century. It begins with the first attempt at English colonization in +America, in 1576, and ends with the year 1652, when the supremacy of +Parliament was recognized throughout the English colonies. The +original motive of colonization is found in English rivalry with the +Spanish power; and the first chapter of this work tells how this +motive influenced Gilbert and Raleigh in their endeavors to plant +colonies in Newfoundland and North Carolina. Though unfortunate in +permanent result, these expeditions familiarized the people of England +with the country of Virginia--a name given by Queen Elizabeth to all +the region from Canada to Florida--and stimulated the successful +settlement at Jamestown in the early part of the seventeenth century. +With the charter of 1609 Virginia was severed from North Virginia, to +which Captain Smith soon gave the name of "New England"; and the story +thereafter is of two streams of English emigration--one to Virginia +and the other to New England. Thence arose the Southern and Northern +colonies of English America, which, more than a century beyond the +period of this book, united to form the great republic of the United +States. + +The most interesting period in the history of any country is the +formative period; and through the mass of recently published original +material on America the opportunity to tell its story well has been of +late years greatly increased. In the preparation of this work I have +endeavored to consult the original sources, and to admit secondary +testimony only in matters of detail. I beg to express my indebtedness +to the authorities of the Harvard College Library and the Virginia +Library for their courtesy in giving me special facilities for the +verification of my authorities. + +LYON GARDINER TYLER. + + + + +ENGLAND IN AMERICA + +CHAPTER I + +GENESIS OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION + +(1492-1579) + + +Up to the last third of the sixteenth century American history was the +history of Spanish conquest, settlement, and exploration. Except for +the feeble Portuguese settlements in Brazil and at the mouth of the La +Plata, from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, around the eastern and +western coasts of South America, and northward to the Gulf of +California, all was Spanish--main-land and islands alike. The subject +of this volume is the bold assertion of England to a rivalry in +European waters and on American coasts. + +How came England, with four millions of people, to enter into a +quarter of a century of war with the greatest power in Europe? The +answer is that Spain was already decaying, while England was instinct +with the spirit of progress and development. The contrast grew +principally out of the different attitude of the two nations towards +the wealth introduced into Europe from America, and towards the +hitherto established religion of the Christian world. While the +treasure from Mexico and Peru enabled Charles V. and Philip II. to +carry on great wars and to establish an immense prestige at the +different courts of Europe, it created a speculative spirit which drew +their subjects away from sober employment. For this reason +manufacturing and agriculture, for which Spain was once so +distinguished, were neglected; and the kingdom, thinned of people and +decreasing in industry, grew dependent for supplies upon the +neighboring countries.[1] + +On the other hand, the treasures which destroyed the manufactures of +Spain indirectly stimulated those of England. Without manufactures, +Spain had to employ her funds in buying from other countries her +clothing, furniture, and all that was necessary for the comfort of her +citizens at home or in her colonies in America. In 1560 not above a +twentieth part of the commodities exported to America consisted of +Spanish-manufactured fabrics: all the rest came through the foreign +merchants resident in Spain.[2] + +Similar differences arose from the attitude of the two kingdoms to +religion. Philip loved to regard himself as the champion of the +Catholic church, and he encouraged it to extend its authority in Spain +in the most absolute manner. Spain became the favored home of the +Inquisition, and through its terrors the church acquired complete +sovereignty over the minds of the people. Since free thought was +impossible, private enterprise gave way to mendicancy and indolence. +It was not long before one-half of the real estate of the realm fell +into the hands of the clergy and monastic orders.[3] + +In England, on the other hand, Henry VIII.'s quarrel with the pope in +1534 gave Protestantism a foothold; and the suppression of the +convents and monasteries in 1537-1539 put the possibility of the +re-establishment of papal power out of question. Thus, while the body +of the people remained attached to the Catholic church under Edward +VI. and Queen Mary, the clergy had no great power, and there was +plenty of room for free speech. Under Elizabeth various causes +promoted the growth of Protestantism till it became a permanent ruling +principle. Since its spirit was one of inquiry, private enterprise, +instead of being suppressed as in Spain, spread the wings of +manufacture and commerce.[4] + +Thus, collision between the two nations was unavoidable, and their +rivalry enlisted all the forces of religion and interest. Under such +influences thousands of young Englishmen crossed the channel to fight +with William of Orange against the Spaniards or with the Huguenots +against the Guises, the allies of Spain. The same motives led to the +dazzling exploits of Hawkins, Drake, and Cavendish, and sent to the +sea scores of English privateers; and it was the same motives which +stimulated Gilbert in 1576, eighty-four years after the Spaniards had +taken possession, in his grand design of planting a colony in America. +The purpose of Gilbert was to cut into Spanish colonial power, as was +explained by Richard Hakluyt in his _Discourse on Western Planting_, +written in 1584: "If you touche him [the king of Spain] in the Indies, +you touche the apple of his eye; for take away his treasure, which is +_neruus belli_, and which he hath almoste oute of his West Indies, his +olde bandes of souldiers will soone be dissolved, his purposes +defeated, his power and strengthe diminished, his pride abated, and +his tyranie utterly suppressed."[5] + +Still, while English colonization at first sprang out of rivalry with +Spain and was late in beginning, England's claims in America were +hardly later than Spain's. Christopher Columbus at first hoped, in his +search for the East Indies, to sail under the auspices of Henry VII. +Only five years later, in 1497, John Cabot, under an English charter, +reached the continent of North America in seeking a shorter route by +the northwest; and in 1498, with his son Sebastian Cabot, he repeated +his visit. But nothing important resulted from these voyages, and +after long neglect their memory was revived by Hakluyt,[6] only to +support a claim for England to priority in discovery. + +Indeed, England was not yet prepared for the work of colonization. Her +commerce was still in its infancy, and did not compare with that of +either Italy, Spain, or Portugal. Neither Columbus nor the Cabots were +Englishmen, and the advantages of commerce were so little understood +in England about this period that the taking of interest for the use +of money was prohibited.[7] A voyage to some mart "within two days' +distance" was counted a matter of great moment by merchant +adventurers.[8] + +During the next half-century, only two noteworthy attempts were made +by the English to accomplish the purposes of the Cabots: De Prado +visited Newfoundland in 1527 and Hore in 1535,[9] but neither of the +voyages was productive of any important result. Notwithstanding, +England's commerce made some advancement during this period. A +substantial connection between England and America was England's +fisheries on the banks of Newfoundland; though used by other European +states, over fifty English ships spent two months in every year in +those distant waters, and gained, in the pursuit, valuable maritime +experience. Probably, however, the development of trade in a different +quarter had a more direct connection with American colonization, for +about 1530 William Hawkins visited the coast of Guinea and engaged in +the slave-trade with Brazil.[10] + +Suddenly, about the middle of the century, English commerce struck out +boldly; conscious rivalry with Spain had begun. The new era opens +fitly with the return of Sebastian Cabot to England from Spain, where +since the death of Henry VII. he had served Charles V. In 1549, during +the third year of Edward VI., he was made grand pilot of England with +an annual stipend of L166 13s. 4d.[11] He formed a company for the +discovery of the northeast and the northwest passages, and in 1553 an +expedition under Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor penetrated +the White Sea and made known the wonders of the Russian Empire.[12] +The company obtained, in 1554, a charter of incorporation under the +title of the "Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Lands, +Territories, Isles, Dominions, and Seignories Unknown or Frequented by +Any English." To Russia frequent voyages were thereafter made. A few +days after the departure of Willoughby's expedition Richard Eden +published his _Treatyse of the Newe India_; and two years later +appeared his _Decades of the New World_, a book which was very popular +among all classes of people in England. Cabot died not many years +later, and Eden, translator and compiler, attended at his bedside, and +"beckons us with something of awe to see him die."[13] + +During Mary's reign (1553-1558) the Catholic church was restored in +England, and by the influence of the queen, who was married to King +Philip, the expanding commerce of England was directed away from the +Spanish colonial possessions eastward to Russia, Barbary, Turkey, and +Persia. After her death the barriers against free commerce were thrown +down. With the incoming of Elizabeth, the Protestant church was +re-established and the Protestant refugees returned from the +continent; and three years after her succession occurred the first of +those great voyages which exposed the weakness of Spain by showing +that her rich possessions in America were practically unguarded and +unprotected. + +In 1562 Sir John Hawkins, following in the track of his father William +Hawkins, visited Guinea, and, having loaded his ship with negroes, +carried them to Hispaniola, where, despite the Spanish law restricting +the trade to the mother-country, he sold his slaves to the planters, +and returned to England with a rich freight of ginger, hides, and +pearls. In 1564 Hawkins repeated the experiment with greater success; +and on his way home, in 1565, he stopped in Florida and relieved the +struggling French colony of Laudonniere, planted there by Admiral +Coligny the year before, and barbarously destroyed by the Spaniards +soon after Hawkins's departure.[14] The difference between our age and +Queen Elizabeth's is illustrated by the fact that Hawkins, instead of +being put to death as a pirate for engaging in the slave-trade, was +rewarded by the queen on his return with a patent for a coat of arms. + +In 1567 Hawkins with nine ships revisited the West Indies, but this +time ill-fortune overtook him. Driven by bad weather into the harbor +of San Juan de Ulloa, he was attacked by the Spaniards, several of his +ships were sunk, and some of his men were captured and later put to +torture by the Inquisition. Hawkins escaped with two of his ships, and +after a long and stormy passage arrived safe in England (January 25, +1569).[15] Queen Elizabeth was greatly offended at this conduct of the +Spaniards, and in reprisal detained a squadron of Spanish treasure +ships which had sought safety in the port of London from some Huguenot +cruisers. + +In this expedition one of the two ships which escaped was commanded by +a young man named Francis Drake, who came to be regarded as the +greatest seaman of his age. He was the son of a clergyman, and was +born in Devonshire, where centred for two centuries the maritime skill +of England. While a lad he followed the sea, and acquired reputation +for his courage and sagacity. Three years after the affair at San +Juan, Drake fitted out a little squadron, and in 1572 sailed, as he +himself specially states, to inflict vengeance upon the Spaniards. He +had no commission, and on his own private account attacked a power +with which his country was at peace.[16] + +Drake attacked Nombre de Dios and Cartagena, and, as the historian +relates, got together "a pretty store of money," an evidence that his +purpose was not wholly revenge. He marched across the Isthmus of +Panama and obtained his first view of the Pacific Ocean. "Vehemently +transported with desire to navigate that sea," he fell upon his knees, +and "implored the Divine Assistance, that he might at some time or +other sail thither and make a perfect discovery of the same."[17] +Drake reached Plymouth on his return Sunday, August 9, 1573, in sermon +time; and his arrival created so much excitement that the people left +the preacher alone in church so as to catch a glimpse of the famous +sailor.[18] + +Drake contemplated greater deeds. He had now plenty of friends who +wished to engage with him, and he soon equipped a squadron of five +ships. That he had saved something from the profits of his former +voyage is shown by his equipment. The _Pelican_, in which he sailed, +had "expert musicians and rich furniture," and "all the vessels for +the table, yea, many even of the cook-room, were of pure silver."[19] +Drake's object now was to harry the coast of the ocean which he had +seen in 1573. Accordingly, he sailed from Plymouth (December 13, +1577), coasted along the shore of South America, and, passing through +the Straits of Magellan, entered the Pacific in September, 1578. + +The _Pelican_ was now the only one of his vessels left, as all the +rest had either returned home or been lost. Renaming the ship the +_Golden Hind_, Drake swept up the western side of South America and +took the ports of Chili and Peru by surprise. He captured galleons +carrying quantities of gold, silver, and jewelry, and acquired plunder +worth millions of dollars.[20] Drake did not think it prudent to go +home by the way he had come, but struck boldly northward in search of +a northeast passage into the Atlantic. He coasted along California as +far as Oregon, repaired his ship in a harbor near San Francisco, took +possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth and called it +Nova Albion. Finding no northeast passage, he turned his prow to the +west, and circumnavigated the globe by the Cape of Good Hope, arriving +at Plymouth in November, 1580.[21] + +The queen received him with undisguised favor, and met a request from +Philip II. for Drake's surrender by knighting the freebooter and +wearing in her crown the jewel he offered her as a present. When the +Spanish ambassador threatened that matters should come to the cannon, +she replied "quietly, in her most natural voice," writes Mendoza, +"that if I used threats of that kind she would throw me into a +dungeon." The revenge that Drake had taken for the affair at San Juan +de Ulloa was so complete that for more than a hundred years he was +spoken of in Spanish annals as "the Dragon." + +His example stimulated adventure in all directions, and in 1586 Thomas +Cavendish, of Ipswich, sailed to South America and made a rich plunder +at Spanish expense. He returned home by the Cape of Good Hope, and was +thus the second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.[22] + +In the mean time, another actor, hardly less adventurous but of a far +grander purpose, had stepped upon the stage of this tremendous +historic drama. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was born in Devonshire, schooled +at Eton, and educated at Oxford. Between 1563 and 1576 he served in +the wars of France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, and was therefore +thoroughly steeped in the military training of the age.[23] The first +evidence of Gilbert's great purpose was the charter by Parliament, in +the autumn of 1566, of a corporation for the discovery of new trades. +Gilbert was a member, and in 1567 he presented an unsuccessful +petition to the queen for the use of two ships for the discovery of a +northwest passage to China and the establishment of a traffic with +that country.[24] + +Before long Gilbert wrote a pamphlet, entitled "A Discourse to Prove a +Passage by the Northwest to Cathaia and the East Indies," which was +shown by Gascoigne, a friend of Gilbert, to the celebrated mariner +Martin Frobisher, and stimulated him to his glorious voyages to the +northeast coast of North America.[25] Before Frobisher's departure on +his first voyage Queen Elizabeth sent for him and commended him for +his enterprise, and when he sailed, July 1, 1576, she waved her hand +to him from her palace window.[26] He explored Frobisher's Strait and +took possession of the land called Meta Incognita in the name of the +queen. He brought back with him a black stone, which a gold-finder in +London pronounced rich in gold, and the vain hope of a gold-mine +inspired two other voyages (1577, 1578). On his third voyage Frobisher +entered the strait known as Hudson Strait, but the ore with which he +loaded his ships proved of little value. John Davis, like Frobisher, +made three voyages in three successive years (1585, 1586, 1587), and +the chief result of his labors was the discovery of the great strait +which bears his name.[27] + +Meanwhile, the idea of building up another English nation across the +seas had taken a firm hold on Gilbert, and among those who communed +with him were his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh, his brothers Adrian +and John Gilbert, besides Richard Hakluyt, Sir Philip Sydney, Sir +Richard Grenville, Sir George Peckham, and Secretary of State Sir +Francis Walsingham. The ill success of Frobisher had no influence upon +their purpose; but four years elapsed after Gilbert's petition to the +crown in 1574 before he obtained his patent. How these years preyed +upon the noble enthusiasm of Gilbert we may understand from a letter +commonly attributed to him, which was handed to the queen in November, +1577: "I will do it if you will allow me; only you must resolve and +not delay or dally--the wings of man's life are plumed with the +feathers of death."[28] + +At length, however, the formalities were completed, and on June 11, +1578, letters to Gilbert passed the seals for planting an English +colony in America.[29] This detailed charter of colonization is most +interesting, since it contains several provisions which reappear in +many later charters. Gilbert was invested with all title to the soil +within two hundred leagues of the place of settlement, and large +governmental authority was given him. To the crown were reserved only +the allegiance of the settlers and one-fifth of all the gold and +silver to be found. Yet upon Gilbert's power two notable limitations +were imposed: the colonists were to enjoy "all the privileges of free +denizens and persons native of England"; and the protection of the +nation was withheld from any license granted by Gilbert "to rob or +spoil by sea or by land." + +Sir Humphrey lost no time in assembling a fleet, but it was not till +November 19, 1578, that he finally sailed from Plymouth with seven +sail and three hundred and eighty-seven men, one of the ships being +commanded by Raleigh. The subsequent history of the expedition is only +vaguely known. The voyagers got into a fight with a Spanish squadron +and a ship was lost.[30] Battered and dispirited as the fleet was, +Gilbert had still Drake's buccaneering expedient open to him; but, +loyal to the injunctions of the queen's charter, he chose to return, +and the expedition broke up at Kinsale, in Ireland.[31] + +In this unfortunate voyage Gilbert buried the mass of his fortune, +but, undismayed, he renewed his enterprise. He was successful in +enlisting a large number of gentlemen in the new venture, and two +friends who invested heavily--Sir Thomas Gerard, of Lancaster, and Sir +George Peckham, of Bucks--he rewarded by enormous grants of land and +privileges.[32] Raleigh adventured L2000 and contributed a ship, the +_Ark Raleigh_;[33] but probably no man did more in stirring up +interest than Richard Hakluyt, the famous naval historian, who about +this time published his _Divers Voyages_, which fired the heart and +imagination of the nation.[34] In 1579 an exploring ship was sent out +under Simon Ferdinando, and the next year another sailed under John +Walker. They reached the coast of Maine, and the latter brought back +the report of a silver-mine discovered near the Penobscot.[35] + +[Footnote 1: Cf. Bourne, _Spain in America_, chap. xvi.] + +[Footnote 2: Cf. Cheyney, _European Background of American History_, +chap. v.] + +[Footnote 3: Prescott, _Hist. of the Reign of Philip II._, III., 443.] + +[Footnote 4: Ibid., chaps, xi., xii.] + +[Footnote 5: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, II., 59.] + +[Footnote 6: Hakluyt, _Discourse on Western Planting_.] + +[Footnote 7: Robertson, _Works_ (ed. 1818), XI., 136.] + +[Footnote 8: _Nova Britannia_ (Force, _Tracts_, I., No. vi.).] + +[Footnote 9: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_ (ed. 1625), III., 809; Hakluyt, +_Voyages_ (ed. 1809), III., 167-174.] + +[Footnote 10: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 171; IV., 198.] + +[Footnote 11: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, III., 808; Hakluyt, _Voyages_, +III., 31.] + +[Footnote 12: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, I., 270.] + +[Footnote 13: Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, III., 7.] + +[Footnote 14: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 593, 618.] + +[Footnote 15: Ibid., 618-623.] + +[Footnote 16: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, IV., 1; Winsor, _Narrative and +Critical History_, III., 59-84.] + +[Footnote 17: Camden, _Annals_, in Kennet, _England_, II., 478.] + +[Footnote 18: Harris, _Voyages and Travels_, II., 15.] + +[Footnote 19: Harris, _Voyages and Travels_, II., 15.] + +[Footnote 20: Camden, _Annals_, in Kennet, _England_, II., 478, 479.] + +[Footnote 21: Camden, _Annals_, in Kennet, _England_, II., 479, 480; +Hakluyt, _Voyages_, IV., 232-246.] + +[Footnote 22: Ibid., 316-341.] + +[Footnote 23: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 77.] + +[Footnote 24: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1513-1616, p. 8.] + +[Footnote 25: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 32-46; Edwards, _Life of +Raleigh_, I., 77; Doyle, _English in America_, I., 60.] + +[Footnote 26: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 53.] + +[Footnote 27: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 52-104, 132.] + +[Footnote 28: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 9.] + +[Footnote 29: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 174-176.] + +[Footnote 30: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 186.] + +[Footnote 31: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1674, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 32: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1674, pp. 8-10.] + +[Footnote 33: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 82, 83.] + +[Footnote 34: Stevens, _Thomas Hariot_, 40.] + +[Footnote 35: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 2.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +GILBERT AND RALEIGH COLONIES + +(1583-1602) + + +Preparations for Gilbert's second and fateful expedition now went +forward, and public interest was much aroused by the return of Drake, +in 1580, laden with the spoils of America. Gilbert invited Raleigh to +accompany him as vice-admiral, but the queen would not let him +accept.[1] Indeed, she seemed to have a presentiment that all would +not go well, and when the arrangements for the voyage were nearing +completion she caused her secretary of state, Walsingham, to let +Gilbert also know that, "of her special care" for him, she wished his +stay at home "as a man noted of no good hap by sea."[2] But the +queen's remark only proved her desire for Gilbert's safety; and she +soon after sent him word that she wished him as "great goodhap and +safety to his ship as if herself were there in person," and requested +his picture as a keepsake.[3] The fleet of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, +consisting of five ships bearing two hundred and sixty men, sailed +from Plymouth June 11, 1583, and the "mishaps" which the queen feared +soon overtook them. After scarcely two days of voyage the ship sent by +Raleigh, the best in the fleet, deserted. Two more ships got +separated, and the crew of one of them, freed from Gilbert's control, +turned pirates and plundered a French ship which fell in their way. +Nevertheless, Gilbert pursued his course, and on August 3, 1583, he +reached the harbor of St. John's in Newfoundland, where he found the +two missing ships. Gilbert showed his commission to the fishing +vessels, of which there were no fewer than thirty-six of all nations +in port, and their officers readily recognized his authority. Two days +later he took possession of the country in the name of Queen +Elizabeth, and as an indication of the national sovereignty to all men +he caused the arms of England engraved on lead to be fixed on a pillar +of wood on the shore side. + +Mishaps did not end with the landing in Newfoundland. The emigrants +who sailed with Gilbert were better fitted for a crusade than a +colony, and, disappointed at not at once finding mines of gold and +silver, many deserted; and soon there were not enough sailors to man +all the four ships. Accordingly, the _Swallow_ was sent back to +England with the sick; and with the remainder of the fleet, well +supplied at St. John's with fish and other necessaries, Gilbert +(August 20) sailed south as far as forty-four degrees north latitude. +Off Sable Island a storm assailed them, and the largest of the +vessels, called the _Delight_, carrying most of the provisions, was +driven on a rock and went to pieces. + +Overwhelmed by this terrible misfortune, the colonists returned to +Newfoundland, where, yielding to his crew, Gilbert discontinued his +explorations, and on August 31 changed the course of the two ships +remaining, the _Squirrel_ and _Golden Hind_, directly for England. The +story of the voyage back is most pathetic. From the first the sea was +boisterous; but to entreaties that he should abandon the _Squirrel_, a +little affair of ten tons, and seek his own safety in the _Hind_, a +ship of much larger size, Gilbert replied, "No, I will not forsake my +little company going homeward, with whom I have passed so many storms +and perils." Even then, amid so much danger, his spirit rose supreme, +and he actually planned for the spring following two expeditions, one +to the south and one to the north; and when some one asked him how he +expected to meet the expenses in so short a time, he replied, "Leave +that to me, and I will ask a penny of no man." + +A terrible storm arose, but Gilbert retained the heroic courage and +Christian faith which had ever distinguished him. As often as the +_Hind_, tossed upon the waves, approached within hailing distance of +the _Squirrel_, the gallant admiral, "himself sitting with a book in +his hand" on the deck, would call out words of cheer and +consolation--"We are as near heaven by sea as by land." When night +came on (September 10) only the lights in the riggings of the +_Squirrel_ told that the noble Gilbert still survived. At midnight the +lights went out suddenly, and from the watchers on the Hind the cry +arose, "The admiral is cast away." And only the _Golden Hind_ returned +to England.[4] + +The mantle of Gilbert fell upon the shoulders of his half-brother Sir +Walter Raleigh, whose energy and versatility made him, perhaps, the +foremost Englishman of his age. When the _Hind_ returned from her +ill-fated voyage Raleigh was thirty-one years of age and possessed a +person at once attractive and commanding. He was tall and well +proportioned, had thick, curly locks, beard, and mustaches, full, red +lips, bluish gray eyes, high forehead, and a face described as "long +and bold." + +By service in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland he had shown +himself a soldier of the same fearless stamp as his half-brother Sir +Humphrey Gilbert; and he was already looked upon as a seaman of +splendid powers for organization. Poet and scholar, he was the patron +of Edmund Spenser, the famous author of the _Faerie Queene_; of +Richard Hakluyt, the naval historian; of Le Moyne and John White, the +painters; and of Thomas Hariot, the great mathematician. + +Expert in the art of gallantry, Raleigh won his way to the queen's +heart by deftly placing between her feet and a muddy place his new +plush coat. He dared the extremity of his political fortunes by +writing on a pane of glass which the queen must see, "Fain would I +climb, but fear I to fall." And she replied with an encouraging--"If +thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." The queen's favor developed +into magnificent gifts of riches and honor, and Raleigh received +various monopolies, many forfeited estates, and appointments as lord +warden of the stannaries, lieutenant of the county of Cornwall, +vice-admiral of Cornwall and Devon, and captain of the queen's guard. + +The manner in which Raleigh went about the work of colonization showed +remarkable forethought and system. In order to enlist the active +cooperation of the court and gentry, he induced Richard Hakluyt to +write for him, in 1584, his _Discourse on Western Planting_, which he +circulated in manuscript.[5] He not only received from the queen in +1584 a patent similar to Gilbert's,[6] but by obtaining a confirmation +from Parliament in 1585 he acquired a national sanction which +Gilbert's did not possess.[7] + +In imitation of Gilbert he sent out first an exploring expedition +commanded by Arthur Barlow and Philip Amidas; but, warned by his +brother's experience, he directed them to go southward. They left the +west of England April 27, 1584, and arrived upon the coast of North +Carolina July 4, where they passed into Ocracoke Inlet south of Cape +Hatteras. There, landing on an island called Wokokon--part of the +broken outer coast--Barlow and Amidas took possession in the right of +the queen and Sir Walter Raleigh.[8] + +Several weeks were spent in exploring Pamlico Sound, which they found +dotted with many small islands, the largest of which, sixteen miles +long, called by the Indians Roanoke Island, was fifty miles north of +Wokokon. About the middle of September, 1584, they returned to England +and reported as the name of the new country "Wincondacoa," which the +Indians at Wokokon had cried when they saw the white men, meaning +"What pretty clothes you wear!" The queen, however, was proud of the +new discovery, and suggested that it should be called, in honor of +herself, "Virginia." + +Pleased at the report of his captains, Sir Walter displayed great +energy in making ready a fleet of seven ships, which sailed from +Plymouth April 9, 1585. They carried nearly two hundred settlers, and +the three foremost men on board were Sir Richard Grenville, the +commander of the fleet; Thomas Cavendish, the future circumnavigator +of the globe; and Captain Ralph Lane, the designated governor of the +new colony. The fleet went the usual way by the West Indies, and June +20 "fell in with the maine of Florida," and June 26 cast anchor at +Wokokon. + +After a month the fleet moved out again to sea, and passing by Cape +Hatteras entered a channel now called New Inlet. August 17, the colony +was landed on Roanoke Island, and eight days later Grenville weighed +anchor for England. On the way back Grenville met a Spanish ship +"richly loaden," and captured her, "boording her with a boate made +with boards of chests, which fell asunder, and sunke at the ships +side, as soone as euer he and his men were out of it." October 18, +1585, he arrived with his prize at Plymouth, in England, where he was +received with great honor and rejoicing.[9] + +The American loves to connect the beginnings of his country with a +hero like Grenville. He was one of the English admirals who helped to +defeat the Spanish Armada, and nothing in naval warfare is more +memorable than his death. In an expedition led by Lord Charles Howard +in 1591 against the Spanish plate-fleet, Grenville was vice-admiral, +and he opposed his ship single-handed against five great Spanish +galleons, supported at intervals by ten others, and he fought them +during nearly fifteen hours. Then Grenville's vessel was so battered +that it resembled rather a skeleton than a ship, and of the crew few +were to be seen but the dead and dying. Grenville himself was captured +mortally wounded, and died uttering these words, "Here die I, Richard +Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my +life, as a true soldier ought to do, fighting for his country, queen, +religion, and honor."[10] + +Of the settlers at Roanoke during the winter after their landing +nothing is recorded, but the prospect in the spring was gloomy. Lane +made extensive explorations for gold-mines and for the South Sea, and +found neither. The natives laid a plot to massacre the settlers, but +Lane's soldierly precaution saved the colonists. Grenville was +expected to return with supplies by Easter, but Easter passed and +there was no news. In order to get subsistence, Lane divided his men +into three parties, of which one remained at Roanoke Island and the +other two were sent respectively to Hatteras and to Croatoan, an +island just north of Wokokon. + +Not long after Sir Francis Drake, returning from sacking San Domingo, +Cartagena, and St. Augustine, appeared in sight with a superb fleet of +twenty-three sail. He succored the imperilled colonists with supplies, +and offered to take them back to England. Lane and the chief men, +disheartened at the prospects, abandoned the island, and July 28, +1586, the colonists arrived at Plymouth in Drake's ships, having lost +but four men during the whole year of their stay.[11] + +A day or two after the departure of the colonists a ship sent by +Raleigh arrived, and about fourteen or fifteen days later came three +ships under Sir Richard Grenville, Raleigh's admiral. Grenville spent +some time beating up and down Pamlico Sound, hunting for the colony, +and finally returned to England, leaving fifteen men behind at Roanoke +to retain possession.[12] This was the second settlement. + +The colonists who returned in Drake's ships brought back to Raleigh +two vegetable products which he speedily popularized. One was the +potato,[13] which Raleigh planted on his estate in Ireland, and the +other was tobacco, called by the natives "uppowoc," which he taught +the courtiers to smoke. + +Most of the settlers who went with Lane were mere gold-hunters, but +there were two who would have been valuable to any society--the +mathematician Thomas Hariot, who surveyed the country and wrote an +account of the settlement; and John White, who made more than seventy +beautiful water-colors representing the dress of the Indians and their +manner of living. When the engraver De Bry came to England in 1587 he +made the acquaintance of Hakluyt, who introduced him to John White, +and the result was that De Bry was induced to turn Hariot's account of +Virginia into the first part of his celebrated _Peregrinations_, +illustrating it from the surveys of Hariot and the paintings of John +White.[14] + +If Raleigh was disappointed with his first attempt at colonization he +was encouraged by the good report of Virginia given by Lane and +Hariot, and in less than another year he had a third fleet ready to +sail. He meant to make this expedition more of a colony than Lane's +settlement at Roanoke, and selected as governor the painter John +White, who could appreciate the natural productions of the country. +And among the one hundred and fifty settlers who sailed from Plymouth +May 8, 1587, were some twenty-five women and children. + +The instructions of Raleigh required them to proceed to Chesapeake +Bay, of which the Indians had given Lane an account on his previous +voyage, only stopping at Roanoke for the fifteen men that Grenville +had left there; but when they reached Roanoke Simon Ferdinando, the +pilot, refused to carry them any farther, and White established his +colony at the old seating-place. None of Grenville's men could be +found, and it was afterwards learned that they had been suddenly +attacked by the Indians, who killed one man and so frightened the rest +as to cause them to take to sea in a row-boat, which was never heard +of again. + +Through Manteo, a friendly Indian, White tried to re-establish +amicable relations with the natives, and for his faithful services +Manteo was christened and proclaimed "Lord of Roanoke and +Dasamon-guepeuk"; but the Indians, with the exception of the tribe of +Croatoan, to which Manteo belonged, declined to make friends. August +18, five days after the christening of Manteo, Eleanor Dare, daughter +to the governor and wife of Ananias Dare, one of White's council, was +delivered of a daughter, and this child, Virginia, was the first +Christian born in the new realm.[15] + +When his granddaughter was only ten days old Governor White went to +England for supplies. He reached Hampton November 8, 1587.[16] He +found affairs in a turmoil. England was threatened with the great +Armada, and Raleigh, Grenville, Lane, and all the other friends of +Virginia were exerting their energies for the protection of their +homes and firesides.[17] Indeed, the rivalry of England and Spain had +reached its crisis; for at this time all the hopes of Protestant +Christendom were centred in England, and within her borders the +Protestant refugees from all countries found a place of safety and +repose. In 1585 the Dutch, still carrying on their struggle with +Spain, had offered Queen Elizabeth the sovereignty of the Netherlands, +and, though she declined it, she sent an army to their assistance. The +French Huguenots also looked to her for support and protection. Spain, +on the other hand, as the representative of all Catholic Europe, had +never appeared so formidable. By the conquest of Portugal in 1580 her +king had acquired control over the East Indies, which were hardly less +valuable than the colonies of Spain; and with the money derived from +both the Spanish and Portuguese possessions Philip supported his +armies in Italy and the Netherlands, and was the mainstay of the pope +at Rome, the Guises in France, and the secret plotters in Scotland and +Ireland of rebellion against the authority of Elizabeth. + +This wide distribution of power was, however, an inherent weakness +which created demands enough to exhaust the treasury even of Philip, +and he instinctively recognized in England a danger which must be +promptly removed. England must be subdued, and Philip, determining on +an invasion, collected a powerful army at Bruges, in Flanders, and an +immense fleet in the Tagus, in Spain. For the attack he selected a +time when Amsterdam, the great mart of the Netherlands, had fallen +before his general the duke of Palma; when the king of France had +become a prisoner of the Guises; and when the frenzied hatred of the +Catholic world was directed against Elizabeth for the execution of +Mary, queen of Scots. + +How to meet and repel this immense danger caused many consultations on +the part of Elizabeth and her statesmen, and at first they inclined to +make the defence by land only. But Raleigh, like Themistocles at +Athens under similar conditions, urgently advised dependence on a +well-equipped fleet, and after some hesitation his advice was +followed. Then every effort was strained to bring into service every +ship that could be found or constructed in time within the limits of +England, so that in May, 1588, when Philip's huge Armada set sail from +the Tagus, a numerous English fleet was ready to dispute its onward +passage. A great battle was fought soon after in the English Channel, +and there Lord Charles Howard of Effingham, and Raleigh and Drake and +Hawkins joined with Grenville and Cavendish and Frobisher and Lane, +and all the other glorious heroes of England, in the mighty overthrow +of the Spanish enemy.[18] + +Under the inspiration of this tremendous victory the Atlantic Ocean +during the next three years swarmed with English cruisers, and more +than eight hundred Spanish ships fell victims to their attacks. So +great was the destruction that the coast of Virginia abounded in the +wreckage.[19] But the way to a successful settlement in America was +not entirely opened until eight years later, when the English fleet, +under Howard, Raleigh, and Essex, completed the destruction of the +Spanish power by another great naval victory won in the harbor of +Cadiz. + +Amid all this excitement and danger Raleigh did not forget his colony +in Virginia. Twice he sent relief expeditions; but the first was +stopped because in the struggle with Spain all the ships were demanded +for government service; and the second was so badly damaged by the +Spanish cruisers that it could not continue its voyage. Raleigh had +spent L40,000 in his several efforts to colonize Virginia, and the +burden became too heavy for him to carry alone. As Hakluyt said, "It +required a prince's purse to have the action thoroughly followed out." +He therefore consented, in 1589, to assign a right to trade in +Virginia to Sir Thomas Smith, John White, Richard Hakluyt, and others, +reserving a fifth of all the gold and silver extracted, and they +raised means for White's last voyage to Virginia.[20] + +It was not until March, 1591, that Governor White was able to put to +sea again. He reached Roanoke Island August 17, and, landing, visited +the point where he had placed the settlement. As he climbed the sandy +bank he noticed, carved upon a tree in Roman letters, "CRO," without a +cross, and White called to mind that three years before, when he left +for England, it had been agreed that if the settlers ever found it +necessary to remove from the island they were to leave behind them +some such inscription, and to add a cross if they left in danger or +distress. A little farther on stood the fort, and there White read on +one of the trees an inscription in large capital letters, "Croatoan." +This left no doubt that the colony had moved to the island of that +name south of Cape Hatteras and near Ocracoke Inlet. He wished the +ships to sail in that direction, but a storm arose, and the captains, +dreading the dangerous shoals of Pamlico Sound, put to sea and +returned to England without ever visiting Croatoan.[21] White never +came back to America, and his separation from the colony is heightened +in tragic effect by the loss of his daughter and granddaughter. + +What became of the settlers at Roanoke has been a frequent subject of +speculation. When Jamestown was established, in 1607, the search for +them was renewed, but nothing definite could be learned. There is, +indeed, a story told by Strachey that the unfortunate colonists, +finally abandoning all hope, intermixed with the Indians at Croatoan, +and after living with them till about the time of the arrival at +Jamestown were, at the instigation of Powhatan, cruelly massacred. +Only seven of them--four men, two boys, and a young maid--were +preserved by a friendly chief, and from these, as later legends have +declared, descended a tribe of Indians found in the vicinity of +Roanoke Island in the beginning of the eighteenth century and known as +the Hatteras Indians.[22] + +Sir Walter Raleigh will always be esteemed the true parent of North +American colonization, for though the idea did not originate with him +he popularized it beyond any other man. Just as he made smoking +fashionable at the court of Elizabeth, so the colonization of +Virginia--that is, of the region from Canada to Florida--was made +fashionable through his example. His enterprise caused the advantages +of America's soil and climate to be appreciated in England, and he was +the first to fix upon Chesapeake Bay as the proper place of +settlement. + +When James I succeeded Elizabeth on the throne Raleigh lost his +influence at court, and nearly all the last years of his life were +spent a prisoner in the Tower of London, where he wrote his _History +of the World_. In 1616 he was temporarily released by the king on +condition of his finding a gold-mine in Guiana. When he returned +empty-handed he was, on the complaint of the Spanish ambassador, +arrested, sentenced to death, and executed on an old verdict of the +jury, now recognized to have been based on charges trumped up by +political enemies.[23] + +Raleigh never relinquished hope in America. In 1595 he made a voyage +to Guiana, and in 1602 sent out Samuel Mace to Virginia--the third of +Mace's voyages thither. In 1603, just before his confinement in the +Tower, he wrote to Sir Robert Cecil regarding the rights which he had +in that country, and used these memorable words, "I shall yet live to +see it an English nation."[24] + +[Footnote 1: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 81, II., 10.] + +[Footnote 2: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1674, p. 17.] + +[Footnote 3: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 82.] + +[Footnote 4: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 184-208.] + +[Footnote 5: Stevens, _Thomas Hariot_, 43-48.] + +[Footnote 6: For the patent, see Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 297-301.] + +[Footnote 7: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 13.] + +[Footnote 8: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 301.] + +[Footnote 9: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 302-310.] + +[Footnote 10: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 144-145.] + +[Footnote 11: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 322, IV., 10.] + +[Footnote 12: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 323, 340.] + +[Footnote 13: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 106.] + +[Footnote 14: Stevens, _Thomas Hariot_, 55-62.] + +[Footnote 15: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 340-345.] + +[Footnote 16: Ibid., 346, 347.] + +[Footnote 17: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 19.] + +[Footnote 18: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 111.] + +[Footnote 19: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 20.] + +[Footnote 20: Stebbins, _Life of Raleigh_, 47.] + +[Footnote 21: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 350-357.] + +[Footnote 22: Strachey, _Travaile into Virginia_, 26, 85.] + +[Footnote 23: Edwards, _Life of Raleigh_, I., 706, 721.] + +[Footnote 24: Ibid., 91.] + +[Illustration: ROANOKE ISLAND, JAMESTOWN AND ST. MARY'S 1584-1632] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FOUNDING OF VIRGINIA + +(1602-1608) + + +Though a prisoner in the Tower of London who could not share in the +actual work, Sir Walter Raleigh lived to see his prediction regarding +Virginia realized in 1607. He had personally given substance to the +English claim to North America based upon the remote discovery of John +Cabot, and his friends, after he had withdrawn from the field of +action, were the mainstay of English colonization in the Western +continent. + +Bartholomew Gosnold and Bartholomew Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey, with +Raleigh's consent and under the patronage of Henry Wriothesley, the +brilliant and accomplished earl of Southampton, renewed the attempt at +colonization. With a small colony of thirty-two men they set sail from +Falmouth March 26, 1602, took an unusual direct course across the +Atlantic, and seven weeks later saw land at Cape Elizabeth, on the +coast of Maine. They then sailed southward and visited a headland +which they named Cape Cod, a small island now "No Man's Land," which +they called Martha's Vineyard (a name since transferred to the larger +island farther north), and the group called the Elizabeth Islands. The +colonists were delighted with the appearance of the country, but +becoming apprehensive of the Indians returned to England after a short +stay.[1] + +In April, 1603, Richard Hakluyt obtained Raleigh's consent, and, aided +by some merchants of Bristol, sent out Captain Martin Pring with two +small vessels, the _Speedwell_ and _Discovery_, on a voyage of trade +and exploration to the New England coast. Pring was absent eight +months, and returned with an account of the country fully confirming +Gosnold's good report. Two years later, in 1605, the earl of +Southampton and his brother-in-law, Lord Thomas Arundell, sent out +Captain George Weymouth, who visited the Kennebec and brought back +information even more encouraging.[2] + +Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth died March 24, 1603, and was succeeded by +King James I. In November Raleigh was convicted of high-treason and +his monopoly of American colonization was abrogated. By the peace +ratified by the king of Spain June 15, 1605, about a month before +Weymouth's return, the seas were made more secure for English voyages, +although neither power conceded the territorial claims of the +other.[3] + +Owing to these changed conditions and the favorable reports of +Gosnold, Pring, and Weymouth, extensive plans for colonization were +considered in England. Since the experiment of private colonization +had failed, the new work was undertaken by joint-stock companies, for +which the East India Company, chartered in 1600, with the eminent +merchant Sir Thomas Smith at its head, afforded a model. Not much is +known of the beginnings of the movement, but it matured speedily, and +the popularity of the comedy of _Eastward Ho!_ written by Chapman and +Marston and published in the fall of 1605, reflected upon the stage +the interest felt in Virginia. The Spanish ambassador Zuniga became +alarmed, and, going to Lord Chief-Justice Sir John Popham, protested +against the preparations then making as an encroachment upon Spanish +territory and a violation of the treaty of peace. Popham, with true +diplomatic disregard of truth, evaded the issue, and assured Zuniga +that the only object of the scheme was to clear England of "thieves +and traitors" and get them "drowned in the sea."[4] + +A month later, April 10, 1606, a charter was obtained from King James +for the incorporation of two companies, one consisting of "certain +knights, gentlemen, merchants" in and about London, and the other of +"sundry knights, gentlemen, merchants" in and about Plymouth. The +chief patron of the London Company was Sir Robert Cecil, the secretary +of state; and the chief patron of the Plymouth Company was Sir John +Popham, chief-justice of the Queen's Bench, who presided at the trial +of Raleigh in 1603. + +The charter claimed for England all the North American continent +between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees north latitude, but +gave to each company only a tract fronting one hundred miles on the +sea and extending one hundred miles inland. The London Company was +authorized to locate a plantation called the First Colony in some fit +and convenient place between thirty-four and forty-one degrees, and +the Plymouth Company a Second Colony somewhere between thirty-eight +and forty-five degrees, but neither was to plant within one hundred +miles of the other. + +The charter contained "not one ray of popular rights," and neither the +company nor the colonists had any share in the government. The company +must financier the enterprise, but could receive only such rewards as +those intrusted with the management by the home government could win +for them in directing trade, opening mines, and disposing of lands. As +for the emigrants, while they were declared entitled "to all +liberties, franchises, and immunities of British subjects," they were +to enjoy merely such privileges as officers not subject to them in any +way might allow them. The management of both sections of Virginia, +including the very limited grants to the companies, was conferred upon +one royal council, which was to name a local council for each of the +colonies in America; and both superior and subordinate councils were +to govern according to "laws, ordinances, and instructions" to be +given them by the king.[5] + +Two days after the date of the charter these promised "laws," etc., +were issued, and, though not preserved in their original form, they +were probably very similar to the articles published during the +following November.[6] According to these last, the superior council, +resident in England, was permitted to name the colonial councils, +which were to have power to pass ordinances not repugnant to the +orders of the king and superior council; to elect or remove their +presidents, to remove any of their members, to supply their own +vacancies; and to decide all cases occurring in the colony, civil as +well as criminal, not affecting life or limb. Capital offences were to +be tried by a jury of twelve persons, and while to all intents and +purposes the condition of the colonists did not differ from soldiers +subject to martial law, it is to the honor of King James that he +limited the death penalty to tumults, rebellion, conspiracy, mutiny, +sedition, murder, incest, rape, and adultery, and did not include in +the number of crimes either witchcraft or heresy. The articles also +provided that all property of the two companies should be held in a +"joint stock" for five years after the landing.[7] + +The charter being thus secured, both companies proceeded to procure +emigrants; and they had not much difficulty, as at this time there +were many unemployed people in England. The wool culture had converted +great tracts of arable land in England into mere pastures for +sheep,[8] and the closure of the monasteries and religious houses +removed the support from thousands of English families. Since 1585 +this surplus humanity had found employment in the war with Spain, but +the return of peace in 1605 had again thrown them upon society, and +they were eager for chances, no matter how remote, of gold-mines and +happy homes beyond the seas.[9] + +Hence, in three months' time the Plymouth Company had all things in +readiness for a trial voyage, and August 12, 1606, they sent out a +ship commanded by Henry Challons with twenty-nine Englishmen and two +Indians brought into England by Weymouth the year before. Two months +later sailed another ship (of which Thomas Hanham was captain and +Martin Pring master), "with all necessary supplies for the seconding +of Captain Challons and his people." Unfortunately, Captain Challons's +vessel and crew were taken by the Spaniards in the West Indies, and, +though Hanham and Pring reached the coast of America, they returned +without making a settlement.[10] Nevertheless, they brought back, as +Sir Ferdinando Gorges wrote many years after, "the most exact +discovery of that coast that ever came to my hands since," which +wrought "such an impression" on Chief-Justice Popham and the other +members of the Plymouth Company that they determined upon another and +better-appointed attempt at once.[11] + +May 31, 1607, this second expedition sailed from Plymouth with one +hundred and twenty settlers embarked in two vessels--a fly boat called +the _Gift of God_ and a ship called _Mary and John_. August 18, 1607, +the company landed on a peninsula at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, or +Kennebec River, in Maine. After a sermon by their preacher, Richard +Seymour, the commission of government and ordinances prepared by the +authorities at home were read. George Popham was therein designated +president; and Raleigh Gilbert, James Davis, Richard Seymour, Richard +Davis, and Captain Harlow composed the council. The first work +attempted was a fort, which they intrenched and fortified with twelve +pieces of ordnance. Inside they erected a church and storehouse and +fifteen log-cabins. Then a ship-builder constructed a pinnace, called +the _Virginia_, which afterwards was used in the southern colony. But +the colonists were soon discouraged, and more than half their number +went back to England in the ships when they returned in December. + +The winter of 1607-1608 was terrible to the forty-five men who +remained at Kennebec, where land and water were locked in icy fetters. +Their storehouse took fire and was consumed, with a great part of the +provisions, and about the same time President George Popham died. The +other leader, Captain Raleigh Gilbert, grew discouraged when, despite +an industrious exploration of the rivers and harbors, he found no +mines of any kind. When Captain James Davis arrived in the spring, +bringing news of the death of Chief-Justice Popham and of Sir John +Gilbert, Raleigh Gilbert's brother, who had left him his estate, both +leader and colonists were so disenchanted of the country that they +with one accord resolved upon a return. Wherefore they all embarked, +as we are told, in their newly arrived ship and newly constructed +pinnace and set sail for England. "And this," says Strachey, "was the +end of that northerne colony upon the river Sagadahoc."[12] + +To the London Company, therefore, though slower in getting their +expedition to sea, belongs the honor of the first permanent English +colony in America. December 10, 1606, ten days before the departure of +this colony, the council for Virginia set down in writing regulations +deemed necessary for the expedition. The command of the ships and +settlers was given to Captain Christopher Newport, a famous seaman, +who in 1591 had brought into the port of London the treasure-laden +carrack the _Madre de Dios_, taken by Raleigh's ship the _Roe Buck_. +He was to take charge of the commissions of the local council, and not +to break the seals until they had been upon the coast of Virginia +twenty-four hours. Then the council were to elect their president and +assume command of the settlers; while Captain Newport was to spend two +months in discovery and loading his ships "with all such principal +commodities and merchandise there to be had."[13] + +With these orders went a paper, perhaps drawn by Hakluyt, giving +valuable advice concerning the selection of the place of settlement, +dealings with the natives, and explorations for mines and the South +Sea.[14] In respect to the place of settlement, they were especially +advised to choose a high and dry situation, divested of trees and up +some river, a considerable distance from the mouth. The emigrants +numbered one hundred and twenty men--no women. Besides Captain +Newport, the admiral, in the _Sarah Constant_, of a hundred tons, the +leading persons in the exploration were Bartholomew Gosnold, who +commanded the _Goodspeed_, of forty tons; Captain John Ratcliffe, who +commanded the _Discovery_, of twenty tons; Edward Maria Wingfield; +George Percy, brother of the earl of Northumberland; John Smith; +George Kendall, a cousin of Sir Edwin Sandys; Gabriel Archer; and Rev. +Robert Hunt. + +Among these men John Smith was distinguished for a career combining +adventure and romance. Though he was only thirty years of age he had +already seen much service and had many hairbreadth escapes, his most +remarkable exploit having been his killing before the town of Regal, +in Transylvania, three Turks, one after another, in single combat.[15] +The ships sailed from London December 20, 1606, and Michael Drayton +wrote some quaint verses of farewell, of which perhaps one will +suffice: + + "And cheerfully at sea + Success you still entice, + To get the pearl and gold, + And ours to hold + Virginia, + Earth's only paradise!" + +The destination of the colony was Chesapeake Bay, a large gulf opening +by a strait fifteen miles wide upon the Atlantic at thirty-seven +degrees, and reaching northward parallel to the sea-coast one hundred +and eighty-five miles. Into its basin a great many smooth and placid +rivers discharge their contents. Perhaps no bay of the world has such +diversified scenery. Among the rivers which enter the bay from the +west, four--the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James--are +particularly large and imposing. They divide what is called tide-water +Virginia into long and narrow peninsulas, which are themselves +furrowed by deep creeks making numerous necks or minor peninsulas of +land. Up these rivers and creeks the tide ebbs and flows for many +miles. In 1607, before the English arrived, the whole of this +tide-water region, except here and there where the Indians had a +cornfield, was covered with primeval forests, so free from undergrowth +that a coach with four horses could be driven through the thickest +groups of trees. + +The numerous tribes of Indians who inhabited this region belonged to +the Algonquin race, and at the time Captain Newport set sail from +England they were members of a confederacy, of which Powhatan was head +war chief or werowance. There were at least thirty-four of these +tribes, and to each Powhatan appointed one of his own friends as +chief. Powhatan's capital, or "werowocomoco," was on York River at +Portan Bay (a corruption for Powhatan), about fourteen miles from +Jamestown; and Pochins, one of his sons, commanded at Point Comfort, +while Parahunt, another son, was werowance at the falls of the James +River, one hundred and twenty miles inland. West of the bay region, +beyond the falls of the rivers, were other confederacies of Indians, +who carried on long wars with Powhatan, of whom the most important +were the Monacans, or Manakins, and Massawomekes.[16] + +Powhatan's dominions extended from the Roanoke River, in North +Carolina, to the head of Chesapeake Bay, and in all this country his +will was despotic. He had an organized system of collecting tribute +from the werowances, and to enforce his orders kept always about him +fifty armed savages "of the tallest in his kingdom." Each tribe had a +territory defined by natural bounds, and they lived on the rivers and +creeks in small villages, consisting of huts called wigwams, oval in +shape, and made of bark set upon a framework of saplings. Sometimes +these houses were of great length, accommodating many families at +once; and at Uttamussick, in the peninsula formed by the Pamunkey and +Mattapony, were three such structures sixty feet in length, where the +Indians kept the bodies of their dead chiefs under the care of seven +priests, or medicine-men. + +The religion of these Chesapeake Bay Indians, like that of all the +other Indians formerly found on the coast, consisted in a belief in a +great number of devils, who were to be warded off by powwows and +conjurations. Captain Smith gives an account of a conjuration to which +he was subjected at Uttamussick when a captive in December, 1607. At +daybreak they kindled a fire in one of the long houses and by it +seated Captain Smith. Soon the chief priest, hideously painted, +bedecked with feathers, and hung with skins of snakes and weasels, +came skipping in, followed by six others similarly arrayed. Rattling +gourds and chanting most dismally, they marched about Captain Smith, +the chief priest in the lead and trailing a circle of meal, after +which they marched about him again and put down at intervals little +heaps of corn of five or six grains each. Next they took some little +bunches of sticks and put one between every two heaps of corn. These +proceedings, lasting at intervals for three days, were punctuated with +violent gesticulations, grunts, groans, and a great rattling of +gourds.[17] + +Another custom of the Indians is linked with a romantic incident in +Virginia history. Not infrequently some wretched captive, already +bound, to be tortured to death, has owed his life to the interference +of some member of the tribe who announced his or her desire to adopt +him as a brother or son. The motives inducing this interference +proceeded sometimes from mere business considerations and sometimes +from pity, superstition, or admiration. It was Captain Smith's fortune +during his captivity to have a personal experience of this nature. +After the conjuration at Uttamussick Smith was brought to Werowocomoco +and ushered into a long wigwam, where he found Powhatan sitting upon a +bench and covered with a great robe of raccoon skins, with the tails +hanging down like tassels. On either side of him sat an Indian girl of +sixteen or seventeen years, and along the walls of the room two rows +of grim warriors, and back of them two rows of women with faces and +shoulders painted red, hair bedecked with the plumage of birds, and +necks strung with chains of white beads. + +At Smith's entrance those present gave a great shout, and presently +two stones were brought before Powhatan, and on these stones Smith's +head was laid. Next several warriors with clubs took their stand near +him to beat out his brains, whereupon Powhatan's "dearest daughter," +Pocahontas, a girl of about twelve years old, rushed forward and +entreated her father to spare the prisoner. When Powhatan refused she +threw herself upon Smith, got his head in her arms, and laid her own +upon his. This proved too much for Powhatan. He ordered Smith to be +released, and, telling him that henceforth he would regard him as his +son, sent him with guides back to Jamestown.[18] + +The credibility of this story has been attacked on the ground that it +does not occur in Smith's _True Relation_, a contemporaneous account +of the colony, and appears first in his _Generall Historie_, published +in 1624. But the editor of the _True Relation_ expressly states that +the published account does not include the entire manuscript as it +came from Smith. Hence the omission counts for little, and there is +nothing unusual in Smith's experience, which, as Dr. Fiske says, "is +precisely in accord with Indian usage." About 1528 John Ortiz, of +Seville, a soldier of Pamfilo de Narvaez, captured by the Indians on +the coast of Florida, was saved from being roasted to death by the +chief's daughter, a case very similar to that of John Smith and +Pocahontas. Smith was often inaccurate and prejudiced in his +statements, but that is far from saying that he deliberately mistook +plain objects of sense or concocted a story having no foundation.[19] + +Still another incident illustrative of Indian life is given by Smith. +In their idle hours the Indians amused themselves with singing, +dancing, and playing upon musical instruments made of pipes and small +gourds, and at the time of another visit to Werowocomoco Smith was +witness to a very charming scene in which Pocahontas was again the +leading actor. While the English were sitting upon a mat near a fire +they were startled by loud shouts, and a party of Indian girls came +out of the woods strangely attired. Their bodies were painted, some +red, some white, and some blue. Pocahontas carried a pair of antlers +on her head, an otter's skin at her waist and another on her arm, a +quiver of arrows at her back, and a bow and arrow in her hand. Another +of the band carried a sword, another a club, and another a pot-stick, +and all were horned as Pocahontas. Casting themselves in a ring about +the fire, they danced and sang for the space of an hour, and then with +a shout departed into the woods as suddenly as they came.[20] + +On the momentous voyage to Virginia Captain Newport took the old route +by the Canary Islands and the West Indies, and they were four months +on the voyage. In the West Indies Smith and Wingfield quarrelled, and +the latter charged Smith with plotting mutiny, so that he was arrested +and kept in irons till Virginia was reached. After leaving the West +Indies bad weather drove them from their course; but, April 26, 1607, +they saw the capes of Virginia, which were forthwith named Henry and +Charles, after the two sons of King James. + +Landing at Cape Henry, they set up a cross April 29, and there they +had their first experience with the Indians. The Chesapeakes assaulted +them and wounded two men. About that time the seals were broken, and +it was found that Edward Maria Wingfield, who was afterwards elected +president for one year, Bartholomew Gosnold, Christopher Newport, John +Smith, John Ratcliffe, John Martin, and George Kendall were +councillors. + +For more than two weeks they sought a place of settlement, and they +named the promontory at the entrance of Hampton Roads "Point Comfort," +and the broad river which opened beyond after the king who gave them +their charter. At length they decided upon a tract of land in the +Paspahegh country, distant about thirty-two miles from the river's +mouth; and though a peninsula they called it an island, because of the +very narrow isthmus (long worn away) connecting it with the main-land. +There they landed May 14, 1607 (May 24 New Style), and at the west +end, where the channel of the river came close to the shore, they +constructed a triangular fort with bulwarks in each corner, mounting +from three to five cannon, and within it marked off the beginnings of +a town, which they called Jamestown.[21] + +The colonists were at first in high spirits, for the landing occurred +in the most beautiful month of all the year. In reality, disaster was +already impending, for their long passage at sea had much reduced the +supplies, and the Paspaheghs bitterly resented their intrusion. +Moreover, the peninsula of Jamestown was not such a place as their +instructions contemplated. It was in a malarious situation, had no +springs of fresh water, and was thickly covered with great trees and +tall grass, which afforded protection to Indian enemies. + +May 22 Captain Newport went up in a shallop with twenty others to look +for a gold-mine at the falls of James River. He was gone only a week, +but before he returned the Indians had assaulted the fort, and his +assistance was necessary in completing the palisades. When Newport +departed for England, June 22, he left one hundred and four settlers +in a very unfortunate condition:[22] they were besieged by Indians; a +small ladle of "ill-conditioned" barley-meal was the daily ration per +man; the lodgings of the settlers were log-cabins and holes in the +ground, and the brackish water of the river served them for drink.[23] +The six weeks following Newport's departure were a time of death and +despair, and by September 10 of the one hundred and four men only +forty-six remained alive. + +Under such circumstances dissensions might have been expected, but +they were intensified by the peculiar government devised by the king. +In a short time Gosnold died, and Kendall was detected in a design to +desert the colony and was shot. Then (September 10) Ratcliffe, Smith, +and Martin deposed Wingfield from the government and elected as +president John Ratcliffe. + +In such times men of strong character take the lead. When the cape +merchant Thomas Studley, whose duty it was to care for the supplies +and dispense them, died, his important office was conferred on Smith. +In this capacity Smith showed great abilities as a corn-getter from +the Indians, whom he visited at Kecoughtan (Hampton), Warascoyack, and +Chickahominy. At length, during the fall of 1607, the Indians stopped +hostilities, and for a brief interval health and plenty prevailed.[24] + +In December Smith went on an exploring trip up the Chickahominy, but +on this occasion his good luck deserted him--two of his men were +killed by the Indians and he himself was captured and carried from +village to village, but he was released through the influence of +Pocahontas, and returned to Jamestown (January 2, 1608) to find more +dangers. In his absence Ratcliffe, the president, admitted Gabriel +Archer, Smith's deadly enemy, into the council; and immediately upon +his arrival these two arrested him and tried him under the Levitical +law for the loss of the two men killed by the Indians. He was found +guilty and condemned to be hanged the next day; but in the evening +Newport arrived in the _John and Francis_ with the "First Supply" of +men and provisions, and Ratcliffe and Archer were prevented from +carrying out their plan.[25] Newport found only thirty or forty +persons surviving at Jamestown, and he brought about seventy more. Of +the six members of the council living at the time of his departure in +June, 1607, two, Gosnold and Kendall, were dead, Smith was under +condemnation, and Wingfield was a prisoner. Now Smith was restored to +his seat in council, while Wingfield was released from custody.[26] + +Five days after Newport's arrival at Jamestown a fire consumed nearly +all the buildings in the fort.[27] The consequence was that, as the +winter was very severe, many died from exposure while working to +restore the town. The settlers suffered also from famine, which +Captain Newport partially relieved by visiting Powhatan in February +and returning in March with his "pinnace well loaden with corne, +wheat, beanes, and pease," which kept the colony supplied for some +weeks.[28] + +Newport remained in Virginia for more than three months, but things +were not improved by his stay. His instructions required him to return +with a cargo, and the poor colonists underwent the severest sort of +labor in cutting down trees and loading the ship with cedar, black +walnut, and clapboard.[29] Captain Martin thought he discovered a +gold-mine near Jamestown, and for a time the council had busied the +colonists in digging worthless ore, some of which Newport carried to +England.[30] These works hindered others more important to the +plantation, and only four acres of land was put in corn during the +spring.[31] Newport took back with him the councillors Wingfield and +Archer, and April 20, ten days after Newport's departure, Captain +Francis Nelson arrived in the _Phoenix_ with about forty additional +settlers. He stayed till June, when, taking a load of cedar, he +returned to England, having among his passengers Captain John Martin, +another of the council. + +During the summer Smith spent much time exploring the Chesapeake Bay, +Potomac, and Rappahannock rivers,[32] and in his absence things went +badly at Jamestown. The mariners of Newport's and Nelson's ships had +been very wasteful while they stayed in Virginia, and after their +departure the settlers found themselves on a short allowance again. +Then the sickly season in 1608 was like that of 1607, and of +ninety-five men living in June, 1608, not over fifty survived in the +fall. The settlers even followed the precedent of the previous year in +deposing an unpopular president, for Ratcliffe, by employing the men +in the unnecessary work of a governor's house, brought about a mutiny +in July, which led to the substitution of Matthew Scrivener. At +length, September 10, 1608, Captain Ratcliffe's presidency definitely +expired and Captain Smith was elected president. + +[Footnote 1: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1647-1651; Strachey, _Travaile +into Virginia_, 153-158; John Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 332-340.] + +[Footnote 2: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1654-1656, 1659-1667.] + +[Footnote 3: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 27.] + +[Footnote 4: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 46.] + +[Footnote 5: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 57-66; see also Cheyney, +_European Background of American History_, chap. viii.] + +[Footnote 6: Brown, _First Republic_, 8.] + +[Footnote 7: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 67-75.] + +[Footnote 8: Ashley, _English Economic History_, II., 261-376.] + +[Footnote 9: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 50.] + +[Footnote 10: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 127-139.] + +[Footnote 11: Gorges, _Briefe Narration_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 3d series., VI. 53).] + +[Footnote 12: Strachey, _Travaile into Virginia_, 162-180; Brown, +_Genesis of the United States_, I., 190-194.] + +[Footnote 13: Neill, _Virginia Company_, 4-8.] + +[Footnote 14: Ibid., 8-14.] + +[Footnote 15: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, II., 1365.] + +[Footnote 16: On the American Indians, Farrand, _Basis of American +History_, chaps, vi.-xiv.] + +[Footnote 17: For accounts of aboriginal Virginia, see Strachey, +_Travaile into Virginia_; Spelman, in Brown, _Genesis of the United +States_, I., 483-488; Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 47-84.] + +[Footnote 18: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 400.] + +[Footnote 19: Cases of rescue and adoption are numerous. See the case +of Conture, in Parkman, _Jesuits_, 223; Fiske, _Old Virginia and Her +Neighbors_, I., 113.] + +[Footnote 20: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 436.] + +[Footnote 21: Percy, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lvii.-lxx.] + +[Footnote 22: Percy, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lxx.] + +[Footnote 23: _Breife Declaration_, in Virginia State Senate +_Document_, 1874.] + +[Footnote 24: Percy, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lxxiii.] + +[Footnote 25: Wingfield, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lxxiv.-xci.] + +[Footnote 26: Wingfield, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lxxxvi.] + +[Footnote 27: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 175.] + +[Footnote 28: Wingfield, _Discourse_, in Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +lxxxvii.] + +[Footnote 29: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 30: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 104.] + +[Footnote 31: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 32: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 109-120.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GLOOM IN VIRGINIA + +(1608-1617) + + +When Newport arrived with the "Second Supply," September 29, 1608, he +brought little relief. His seventy passengers, added to the number +that survived the summer, raised the population at Jamestown to about +one hundred and twenty. Among the new-comers were Richard Waldo, Peter +Wynne (both added to the council), Francis West, a brother of Lord +Delaware; eight Poles and Germans, sent over to begin the making of +pitch and soap ashes; a gentlewoman, Mrs. Forrest, and her maid, Anne +Burras, who were the first of their sex to settle at Jamestown. About +two months later there was a marriage in the church at Jamestown +between John Laydon and Anne Burras,[1] and a year later was born +Virginia Laydon, the first white child in the colony.[2] + +The instructions brought by Newport expressed the dissatisfaction of +the council with the paltry returns made to the company for their +outlay, and required President Smith to aid Newport to do three +things[3]--viz., crown Powhatan; discover a gold-mine and a passage to +the South Sea; and find Raleigh's lost colony. Smith tells us that he +was wholly opposed to all these projects, but submitted as best he +might. + +The coronation of Powhatan was a formality borrowed from Sir Walter +Raleigh's peerage for Manteo, and duly took place at Werowocomoco. +Powhatan was presented with a basin, ewer, bed, bed-cover, and a +scarlet cloak, but showed great unwillingness to kneel to receive the +crown. At last three of the party, by bearing hard upon his shoulders, +got him to stoop a little, and while he was in that position they +clapped it upon his head. Powhatan innocently turned the whole +proceeding into ridicule by taking his old shoes and cloak of raccoon +skin and giving them to Newport. + +To seek gold-mines and the South Sea, Newport, taking all the strong +and healthy men at the fort, visited the country of the Monacans +beyond the falls of the James. In this march they discovered the vein +of gold that runs through the present counties of Louisa, Goochland, +Fluvanna, and Buckingham; but as the ore was not easily extracted from +the quartz they returned to Jamestown tired and disheartened. The +search for Raleigh's lost colony was undertaken with much less +expense--several small parties were sent southward but learned nothing +important. + +In December, 1608, Newport returned to England, taking with him a +cargo of pitch, tar, iron ore, and other articles provided at great +labor by the overworked colonists. Smith availed himself of the +opportunity to send by Newport an account of his summer explorations, +a map of Chesapeake Bay and tributary rivers, and a letter in answer +to the complaints signified to him in the instructions of the home +council. Smith's reply was querulous and insubordinate, and spiteful +enough against Ratcliffe, Archer, and Newport, but contained many +sound truths. He ridiculed the policy of the company, and told them +that "it were better to give L500 a ton for pitch, tar, and the like +in the settled countries of Russia, Sweden, and Denmark than send for +them hither till more necessary things be provided"; "for," said he, +"in overtaxing our weake and unskillful bodies, to satisfie this +desire of present profit, we can scarce ever recover ourselves from +one supply to another." Ratcliffe returned to England with Newport, +after whose departure Smith was assisted for a short time by a council +consisting of Matthew Scrivener, Richard Waldo, and Peter Wynne. The +two former were drowned during January, 1609, and the last died not +long after. Smith was left sole ruler, and, contrary to the intention +of the king, he made no attempt to fill the council.[4] + +The "Second Supply" had brought provisions, which lasted only two +months,[5] and most of Smith's time during the winter 1608-1609 was +occupied in trading for corn with the Indians on York River. In the +spring much useful work was done by the colonists under Smith's +directions. They dug a well for water, which till then had been +obtained from the river, erected some twenty cabins, shingled the +church, cleared and planted forty acres of land with Indian-corn, +built a house for the Poles to make glass in, and erected two +block-houses. + +Smith started to build a fort "for a retreat" on Gray's Creek, +opposite to Jamestown (the place is still called "Smith's Fort"), but +a remarkable circumstance, not at all creditable to Smith's vigilance +or circumspection, stopped the work and put the colonists at their +wits' end to escape starvation. On an examination of the casks in +which their corn was stored it was found that the rats had devoured +most of the contents, and that the remainder was too rotten to eat.[6] + +To avoid starvation, President Smith, like Lane at Roanoke Island, in +May, 1609, dispersed the whole colony in three parties, sending one to +live with the savages, another to Point Comfort to try for fish, and +another, the largest party, twenty miles down the river to the +oyster-banks, where at the end of nine weeks the oyster diet caused +their skins "to peale off from head to foote as if they had been +flead."[7] + +While the colony was in this desperate condition there arrived from +England, July 14, 1609, a small bark, commanded by Samuel Argall, with +a supply of bread and wine, enough to last the colonists one month. He +had been sent out by the London Company to try for sturgeon in James +River and to find a shorter route to Virginia. He brought news that +the old charter had been repealed, that a new one abolishing the +council in Virginia had been granted, and that Lord Delaware was +coming, at the head of a large supply of men and provisions, as sole +and absolute governor of Virginia.[8] + +The calamities in the history of the colony as thus far outlined have +been attributed to the great preponderance of "gentlemen" among these +early immigrants; but afterwards when the company sent over mechanics +and laborers the story of misfortune was not much changed. The +preceding narrative shows that other causes, purposely underestimated +at the time, had far more to do with the matter. Imported diseases and +a climate singularly fatal to the new-comers, the faction-breeding +charter, the communism of labor, Indian attack, and the unreasonable +desire of the company for immediate profit afford explanations more +than sufficient. Despite the presence of some unworthy characters, +these "gentlemen" were largely composed of the "restless, pushing +material of which the pathfinders of the world have ever been made." + +The ships returning from the "Second Supply" reached England in +January, 1609, and the account that they brought of the dissensions at +Jamestown convinced the officers of the London Company that the +government in Virginia needed correction. It was deemed expedient to +admit stockholders into some share of the government, and something +like a "boom" was started. Broadsides were issued by the managers, +pamphlets praising the country were published, and sermons were +delivered by eminent preachers like Rev. William Simonds and Rev. +Daniel Price. Zuniga, the Spanish minister, was greatly disturbed, and +urgently advised his master, Philip III., to give orders to have +"these insolent people in Virginia quickly annihilated." But King +Philip was afraid of England, and contented himself with instructing +Zuniga to keep on the watch; and thus the preparations of the London +Company went on without interruption.[9] + +May 23, 1609, a new charter was granted to the company, constituting +it a corporation entirely independent of the North Virginia or +Plymouth Company. The stockholders, seven hundred and sixty-five in +number, came from every rank, profession, or trade in England, and +even included the merchant guilds in London.[10] The charter increased +the company's bounds to a tract fronting on the Atlantic Ocean, "from +the point of land called Cape, or Point, Comfort all along the +sea-coast to the northward two hundred miles, and from the point of +Cape Comfort all along the sea-coast to the southward two hundred +miles," and extending "up into the land, throughout from sea to sea, +west and northwest,"[11] a clause which subsequently caused much +dispute. + +The governing power was still far from taking a popular form, being +centred in a treasurer and council, vacancies in which the company had +the right to fill. For the colonists it meant nothing more than change +of one tyranny for another, since the local government in Virginia was +made the rule of an absolute governor. For this office the council +selected one of the peers of the realm, Thomas West, Lord Delaware, +but as he could not go out at once they commissioned Sir Thomas Gates +as first governor of Virginia,[12] arming him with a code of martial +law which fixed the penalty of death for many offences. + +All things being in readiness, the "Third Supply" left Falmouth, June +8, 1609, in nine ships, carrying about six hundred men, women, and +children, and in one of the ships called the _Sea Venture_ sailed the +governor, Sir Thomas Gates, and the two officers next in command, Sir +George Somers and Captain Christopher Newport. + +When within one hundred and fifty leagues of the West Indies they were +caught in the tail of a hurricane, which scattered the fleet and sank +one of the ships. To keep the _Sea Venture_ from sinking, the men +bailed for three days without intermission, standing up to their +middle in water. Through this great danger they were preserved by +Somers, who acted as pilot, without taking food or sleep for three +days and nights, and kept the ship steady in the waves till she +stranded, July 29, 1609, on one of the Bermuda Islands, where the +company, one hundred and fifty in number, landed in safety. They found +the island a beautiful place, full of wild hogs, which furnished them +an abundance of meat, to which they added turtles, wild fowl, and +various fruits. How to get away was the question, and though they had +not a nail they started promptly to build two small ships, the +_Patience_ and _Deliverance_, out of the cedar which covered the +country-side. May 10, 1610, they were ready to sail with the whole +party for Jamestown, which they reached without accident May 23.[13] + +At Jamestown a sad sight met their view. The place looked like "some +ancient fortification" all in ruins; the palisades were down, the +gates were off their hinges, and the church and houses were in a state +of utter neglect and desolation. Out of the ruins tottered some sixty +wretches, looking more like ghosts than human beings, and they told a +story of suffering having hardly a parallel.[14] + +The energetic Captain Argall, whose arrival at Jamestown has been +already noticed, temporarily relieved the destitution there, first by +supplies which he brought from England and afterwards by sturgeon +which he caught in the river.[15] August 11, 1609, four of the +storm-tossed ships of Gates's fleet entered Hampton Roads, and not +long after three others joined them. They set on land at Jamestown +about four hundred passengers, many of them ill with the London +plague; and as it was the sickly season in Virginia, and most of their +provisions were spoiled by rain and sea-water, their arrival simply +aggravated the situation. + +To these troubles, grave enough of themselves, were added dissensions +among the chief men. Ratcliffe, Martin, and Archer returned at this +time, and President Smith showed little disposition to make friends +with them or with the new-comers, and insisted upon his authority +under the old commission until Gates could be heard from. In the +wrangles that ensued, nearly all the gentlemen opposed Smith, while +the mariners on the ships took his side, and it was finally decided +that Smith should continue in the presidency till September 10, when +his term expired.[16] + +Thus having temporarily settled their differences, the leaders divided +the immigrants into three parties, retaining one under Smith at +Jamestown, and sending another under John Martin to Nansemond, and a +third under Francis West to the falls of the James River. The Indians +so fiercely assailed the two latter companies that both Martin and +West soon returned. Smith was suspected of instigating these attacks, +and thus fresh quarrels broke out. About the time of the expiration of +his presidency Smith was injured by an explosion of gunpowder, and in +this condition, exasperated against Martin, Archer, and Ratcliffe of +the former council, he would neither give up the royal commission nor +lay down his office; whereupon they deposed him and elected George +Percy president.[17] When the ships departed in October, 1609, Smith +took passage for England, and thus the colony lost its strongest +character. Whatever qualifications must be made in his prejudiced +account of the colony, the positions of trust which he enjoyed after +reaching home prove that his merit does not rest solely upon his own +opinions. + +Under Percy the colony went from bad to worse. Sickness soon +incapacitated him, and his advisers, Martin, Archer, Ratcliffe, and +West, were not men of ability. Probably no one could have accomplished +much good under the conditions; and though it became fashionable +afterwards in England to abuse the emigrants as a "lewd company" and +"gallants packed thither by their friends to escape worse destinies at +home," the broadsides issued by the company show that the emigrants of +the "Third Supply" were chiefly artisans of all sorts.[18] The Rev. +William Croshaw perhaps stated the case fairly in a sermon which he +preached in 1610,[19] when he said that "those who were sent over at +the company's expense were, for aught he could see, like those that +were left behind, even of all sorts, better and worse," and that the +gentlemen "who went on their own account" were "as good as the +scoffers at home, and, it may be, many degrees better." + +The colonists at first made various efforts to obtain supplies; and at +President Percy's command John Ratcliffe, in October, 1609, +established a fort called Algernourne and a fishery at Point Comfort, +and in the winter of 1609-1610[20] went in a pinnace to trade with +Powhatan in York River; but was taken off his guard and slain by the +Indians with twenty-seven of his men.[21] Captain West tried to trade +also, but failing in the attempt, sailed off to England.[22] Matters +reached a crisis when the Indians killed and carried off the hogs, +drove away the deer, and laid ambushes all around the fort at +Jamestown.[23] + +Finally came a period long remembered as the "Starving Time," when +corn and even roots from the swamps failed. The starving settlers +killed and ate the dogs and horses and then the mice and snakes found +about the fort. Some turned cannibals, and an Indian who had been +slain was dug out of the ground and devoured. Others crazed with +hunger dogged the footsteps of their comrades; and one man cut his +wife into pieces and ate her up, for which barbarous act he was +executed. Even religion failed to afford any consolation, and a man +threw his Bible into the fire and cried out in the market-place, +"There is no God in heaven." + +Only Daniel Tucker, afterwards governor of Bermuda, seemed able to +take any thought. He built a boat and caught fish in the river, and +"this small relief did keep us from killing one another to eat," says +Percy. Out of more than five hundred colonists in Virginia in the +summer of 1609 there remained about the latter part of May, 1610, not +above sixty persons--men, women, and children--and even these were so +reduced by famine and disease that had help been delayed ten days +longer all would have perished.[24] + +The arrival of Sir Thomas Gates relieved the immediate distress, and +he asserted order by the publication of the code of martial law drawn +up in England.[25] Then he held a consultation with Somers, Newport, +and Percy, and decided to abandon the settlement. As the provisions +brought from the Bermudas were only sufficient to last the company +sixteen days longer, he prepared to go to Newfoundland, where, as it +was the fishing season, he hoped to get further supplies which might +enable them to reach England.[26] Accordingly, he sent the pinnace +_Virginia_ to Fort Algernourne to take on the guard; and then embarked +(June 7, 1610) the whole party at Jamestown in the two cedar vessels +built in the Bermudas. Darkness fell upon them at Hog Island, and the +next morning at Mulberry Island they met the _Virginia_ returning up +the river, bearing a letter from Lord Delaware announcing his arrival +at Point Comfort, and commanding him to take his ships and company +back to Jamestown; which order Gates obeyed, landing at Jamestown that +very night.[27] + +It seems that the reports which reached the council of the company in +England in December, of the disappearance of Sir Thomas Gates and the +ill condition of things at Jamestown, threw such a coldness over the +enterprise that they had great difficulty in fitting out the new +fleet. Nevertheless, March 2, 1610, Lord Delaware left Cowes with +three ships and one hundred and fifty emigrants, chiefly soldiers and +mechanics, with only enough "knights and gentlemen of quality" to +furnish the necessary leadership.[28] + +He arrived at Point Comfort June 6; and, following Gates up the river, +reached Jamestown June 10. His first work was to cleanse and restore +the settlement, after which he sent Robert Tindall to Cape Charles to +fish, and Argall and Somers to the Bermuda Islands for a supply of hog +meat. Argall missed his way and went north to the fishing banks of +Newfoundland, while Somers died in the Bermudas. + +Delaware next proceeded to settle matters with the Indians. The policy +of the company had been to treat them justly, and after the first +summer the settlers bought Jamestown Island from the Paspaheghs for +some copper,[29] and during his presidency Captain Smith purchased the +territory at the Falls.[30] For their late proceedings the Indians had +incurred the penalties of confiscation, but Lord Delaware did not like +harsh measures and sent to Powhatan to propose peace. His reply was +that ere he would consider any accommodation Lord Delaware must send +him a coach and three horses and consent to confine the English wholly +to their island territory.[31] Lord Delaware at once ordered Gates to +attack and drive Powhatan's son Pochins and his Indians from +Kecoughtan; and when this was done he erected two forts at the mouth +of Hampton River, called Charles and Henry, about a musket-shot +distance from Fort Algernourne. + +No precautions, however, could prevent the diseases incident to the +climate, and during the summer no less than one hundred and fifty +persons perished of fever. In the fall Delaware concentrated the +settlers, now reduced to less than two hundred, at Jamestown and +Algernourne fort. Wishing to carry out his instructions, he sent an +expedition to the falls of James River to search for gold-mines; but, +like its predecessor, it proved a failure, and many of the men were +killed by the Indians.[32] Delaware himself fell sick, and by the +spring was so reduced that he found it necessary to leave the colony. +When he departed, March 28, 1611, the storehouse contained only enough +supplies to last the people three months at short allowance; and +probably another "Starving Time" was prevented only by the arrival of +Sir Thomas Dale, May 10, 1611.[33] + +From this time till the death of Lord Delaware in 1618 the government +was administered by a succession of deputy governors, Sir Thomas +Gates, Sir Thomas Dale, Captain George Yardley, and Captain Samuel +Argall. For five years--1611-1616--of this period the ruling spirit +was Sir Thomas Dale, who had acquired a great reputation in the army +of the Netherlands as a disciplinarian. His policy in Virginia seemed +to have been the advancement of the company's profit at the expense of +the settlers, whom he pretended to regard as so abandoned that they +needed the extreme of martial law. In 1611 he restored the settlements +at forts Charles and Henry; in 1613 he founded Bermuda Hundred and +Bermuda City (otherwise called Charles Hundred and Charles City, now +City Point), and in 1614 he established a salt factory at Smith Island +near Cape Charles.[34] + +In laboring at these works the men were treated like galley-slaves and +given a diet "that hogs refused to eat." As a consequence some of them +ran away, and Dale set the Indians to catch them, and when they were +brought back he burned several of them at the stake. Some attempted to +go to England in a barge, and for their temerity were shot to death, +hanged, or broken on the wheel. Although for the most part the men in +the colony at this time were old soldiers, mechanics, and workmen, +accustomed to labor, we are told that among those who perished through +Dale's cruelty were many young men "of Auncyent Houses and born to +estates of L1000 by the year,"[35] persons doubtless attracted to +Virginia by the mere love of adventure, but included by Dale in the +common slavery. Even the strenuous Captain John Smith testified +concerning Jeffrey Abbott, a veteran of the wars in Ireland and the +Netherlands, but put to death by Dale for mutiny, that "he never saw +in Virginia a more sufficient soldier, (one) less turbulent, a better +wit, (one) more hardy or industrious, nor any more forward to cut them +off that sought to abandon the country or wrong the colony."[36] + +To better purpose Dale's strong hand was felt among the Indians along +the James and York rivers, whom he visited with heavy punishments. The +result was that Powhatan's appetite for war speedily diminished; and +when Captain Argall, in April, 1613, by a shrewd trick got possession +of Pocahontas, he offered peace, which was confirmed in April, 1614, +by the marriage of Pocahontas to a leading planter named John Rolfe. +The ceremony is believed to have been performed at Jamestown by Rev. +Richard Buck, who came with Gates in 1610, and it was witnessed by +several of Powhatan's kindred.[37] + +Dale reached out beyond the territory of the London Company, and +hearing that the French had made settlements in North Virginia, he +sent Captain Samuel Argall in July, 1613, to remove them. Argall +reached Mount Desert Island, captured the settlement, and carried some +of the French to Jamestown, where as soon as Dale saw them he spoke of +"nothing but ropes" and of gallows and hanging "every one of them." To +make the work complete, Argall was sent out on a second expedition, +and this time he reduced the French settlements at Port Royal and St. +Croix River.[38] On his return voyage to Virginia he is said to have +stopped at the Hudson River, where, finding a Dutch trading-post +consisting of four houses on Manhattan Island, he forced the Dutch +governor likewise to submit by a "letter sent and recorded" in +Virginia. Probably in one of these voyages the Delaware River was also +visited, when the "atturnment of the Indian kings" was made to the +king of England.[39] It appears to have received its present name from +Argall in 1610.[40] + +Towards the end of his stay in Virginia, Dale seemed to realize that +some change must be made in the colony, and he accordingly abolished +the common store and made every man dependent on his own labor. But +the exactions he imposed upon the settlers in return made it certain +that he did not desire their benefit so much as to save expense to his +masters in England. The "Farmers," as he called a small number to whom +he gave three acres of land to be cultivated in their own way, had to +pay two and a half barrels of corn per acre and give thirty days' +public service in every year; while the "Laborers," constituting the +majority of the colony, had to slave eleven months, and were allowed +only one month to raise corn to keep themselves supplied for a year. +The inhabitants of Bermuda Hundred counted themselves more fortunate +than the rest because they were promised their freedom in three years +and were given one month in the year and one day in the week, from May +till harvest-time, "to get their sustenance," though of this small +indulgence they were deprived of nearly half by Dale. Yet even this +slender appeal to private interest was accompanied with marked +improvement, and in 1614 Ralph Hamor, Jr., Dale's secretary of state, +wrote, "When our people were fed out of the common store and labored +jointly in the manuring of ground and planting corn, ... the most +honest of them, in a general business, would not take so much faithful +and true pains in a week as now he will do in a day."[41] + +These were really dark days for Virginia, and Gondomar, the Spanish +minister, wrote to Philip III. that "here in London this colony +Virginia is in such bad repute that not a human being can be found to +go there in any way whatever."[42] Some spies of King Philip were +captured in Virginia, and Dale was much concerned lest the Spaniards +would attack the settlement, but the Spanish king and his council +thought that it would die of its own weakness, and took no hostile +measure.[43] In England the company was so discouraged that many +withdrew their subscriptions, and in 1615 a lottery was tried as a +last resort to raise money.[44] + +When Dale left Virginia (May, 1616) the people were very glad to get +rid of him, and not more than three hundred and fifty-one +persons--men, women, and children--survived altogether.[45] Within a +very short time the cabins which he erected were ready to fall and the +palisades could not keep out hogs. A tract of land called the +"company's garden" yielded the company L300 annually, but this was a +meagre return for the enormous suffering and sacrifice of life.[46] +Dale took Pocahontas with him to England, and Lady Delaware presented +her at court, and her portrait engraved by the distinguished artist +Simon de Passe was a popular curiosity.[47] While in England she met +Captain John Smith, and when Smith saluted her as a princess +Pocahontas insisted on calling him father and having him call her his +child.[48] + +It was at this juncture that in the cultivation of tobacco, called +"the weed" by King James, a new hope for Virginia was found. Hamor +says that John Rolfe began to plant tobacco in 1612 and his example +was soon followed generally. Dale frowned upon the new occupation, and +in 1616 commanded that no farmer should plant tobacco until he had put +down two acres of his three-acre farm in corn.[49] After Dale's +departure Captain George Yardley, who acted as deputy governor for a +year, was not so exacting. At Jamestown, in the spring of 1617, the +market-place and even the narrow margin of the streets were set with +tobacco. It was hard, indeed, to suppress a plant which brought per +pound in the London market sometimes as much as $12 in present money. +Yardley's government lasted one year, and the colony "lived in peace +and best plentye that ever it had till that time."[50] + +[Footnote 1: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 114, 130.] + +[Footnote 2: Hotten, _Emigrants to America_, 245; Brown, _First +Republic_, 114.] + +[Footnote 3: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 121.] + +[Footnote 4: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 23, 125, 442, 449, 460.] + +[Footnote 5: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 6: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 133-147, 154.] + +[Footnote 7: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 8: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 159; Brown, _Genesis of the +United States_, I., 343.] + +[Footnote 9: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 250-321.] + +[Footnote 10: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 228.] + +[Footnote 11: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 80-98; Brown, _Genesis of the +United States_, I., 206-224.] + +[Footnote 12: _True and Sincere Declaration_, in Brown, _Genesis of +the United States_, I., 345.] + +[Footnote 13: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1734-1754; _Plain Description +of the Barmudas_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. iii.); Brown, _Genesis of +the United States_, I., 346, 347.] + +[Footnote 14: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1749.] + +[Footnote 15: _Breife Declaration_; Brown, _Genesis of the United +States_, I., 404-406.] + +[Footnote 16: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 330-332.] + +[Footnote 17: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 480-485; Archer's letter, +in Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 331-332; Ratcliffe's +letter, ibid., 334-335; Brown, _First Republic_, 94-97.] + +[Footnote 18: Brown, _First Republic_, 92.] + +[Footnote 19: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 364.] + +[Footnote 20: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 497.] + +[Footnote 21: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 483-488.] + +[Footnote 22: _True Declaration_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. i.).] + +[Footnote 23: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 498.] + +[Footnote 24: _Breife Declaration_; Percy, _Trewe Relacyon_, quoted by +Brown, _First Republic_, 94, and by Eggleston, _Beginners of a +Nation_, 39; _The Tragical Relation_, in Neill, _Virginia Company_, +407-411; _True Declaration_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. i.).] + +[Footnote 25: _Laws Divine, Morall and Martiall_ (Force, _Tracts_, +III., No. ii.).] + +[Footnote 26: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 401-415.] + +[Footnote 27: Ibid., 407.] + +[Footnote 28: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 400-415; +Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1734-1756; _True Declaration_ (Force, +_Tracts_, III., No. i.).] + +[Footnote 29: _True Declaration_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. i.).] + +[Footnote 30: Spelman, in Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., +483-488.] + +[Footnote 31: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, IV., 1756.] + +[Footnote 32: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 490.] + +[Footnote 33: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 34: Hamor, _True Discourse_, 29-31; Brown, _Genesis of the +United States_, I., 501-508.] + +[Footnote 35: _The Tragical Relation_, in Neill, _Virginia Company_, +407-411.] + +[Footnote 36: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 508.] + +[Footnote 37: Hamor, _True Discourse_, 11.] + +[Footnote 38: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 709-725.] + +[Footnote 39: _A Description of the Province of New Albion_ (1648) +(Force, _Tracts_, II., No. vii.).] + +[Footnote 40: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 438.] + +[Footnote 41: Hamor, _True Discourse_, 17; _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Footnote 42: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, II., 739, 740.] + +[Footnote 43: Ibid., 657.] + +[Footnote 44: Ibid., 760, 761.] + +[Footnote 45: John Rolfe, _Relation_, in _Va. Historical Register_, +I., 110.] + +[Footnote 46: Virginia Company, _Proceedings_ (Va. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, new series, VII.), I., 65.] + +[Footnote 47: Neill, _Virginia Company_, 98.] + +[Footnote 48: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 533.] + +[Footnote 49: Rolfe, _Relation_, in _Va. Historical Register_, I., +108.] + +[Footnote 50: _Breife Declaration_.] + +[Illustration: CHART OF VIRGINIA SHOWING INDIAN AND EARLY ENGLISH +SETTLEMENTS IN 1632] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +TRANSITION OF VIRGINIA + +(1617-1640) + + +During the period of Dale's administration the constitution of the +London Company underwent a change, because the stockholders grew +restless under the powers of the treasurer and council and applied for +a third charter, limiting all important business to a quarterly +meeting of the whole body. + +As they made the inclusion of the Bermuda Islands the ostensible +object, the king without difficulty signed the paper, March 12, 1612; +and thus the company at last became a self-governing body.[1] On the +question of governing the colony it soon divided, however, into the +court party, in favor of continuing martial law, at the head of which +was Sir Robert Rich, afterwards earl of Warwick; and the "country," or +"patriot party," in favor of ending the system of servitude. The +latter party was led by Sir Thomas Smith, who had been treasurer ever +since 1607, Sir Edwin Sandys, the earl of Southampton, Sir John +Danvers, and John and Nicholas Ferrar.[2] Of the two, the country +party was more numerous, and when the joint stock partnership expired, +November 30, 1616, they appointed Captain Samuel Argall, a kinsman of +Treasurer Smith, to be deputy governor of Virginia, with instructions +to give every settler his own private dividend of fifty acres and to +permit him to visit in England if he chose.[3] + +Argall sailed to Virginia about the first part of April, 1617, taking +with him Pocahontas's husband, John Rolfe, as secretary of state. +Pocahontas was to go with him, but she sickened and died, and was +buried at Gravesend March 21, 1617. She left one son named Thomas, who +afterwards resided in Virginia, where he has many descendants at this +day.[4] Argall, though in a subordinate capacity he had been very +useful to the settlers, proved wholly unscrupulous as deputy governor. +Instead of obeying his instructions he continued the common slavery +under one pretence or another, and even plundered the company of all +the servants and livestock belonging to the "common garden." He +censured Yardley for permitting the settlers to grow tobacco, yet +brought a commission for himself to establish a private tobacco +plantation, "Argall's Gift," and laid off two other plantations of the +same nature. + +In April, 1618, the company, incensed at Argall's conduct, despatched +the Lord Governor Delaware with orders to arrest him and send him to +England, but Delaware died on the way over, and Argall continued his +tyrannical government another year. He appropriated the servants on +Lord Delaware's private estates, and when Captain Edward Brewster +protested, tried him by martial law and sentenced him to death; but +upon the petitions of the ministers resident in the colony commuted +the punishment to perpetual banishment.[5] + +Meanwhile, Sandys, who had a large share in draughting the second and +third charters, was associated with Sir Thomas Smith in preparing a +document which has been called the "Magna Charta of America." November +13, 1618, the company granted to the residents of Virginia the "Great +charter or commission of priviledges, orders, and laws"; and in +January, 1619, Sir George Yardley was sent as "governor and +captain-general," with full instructions to put the new government +into operation. He had also orders to arrest Argall, but, warned by +Lord Rich, Argall fled from the colony before Yardley arrived. Argall +left within the jurisdiction of the London Company in Virginia, as the +fruit of twelve years' labor and an expenditure of money representing +$2,000,000, but four hundred settlers inhabiting some broken-down +settlements. The plantations of the private associations--Southampton +Hundred, Martin Hundred, etc.--were in a flourishing condition, and +the settlers upon them numbered upward of six hundred persons.[6] + +Sir George Yardley arrived in Virginia April 19, 1619, and made known +the intentions of the London Company that there was to be an end of +martial law and communism. Every settler who had come at his own +charge before the departure of Sir Thomas Dale in April, 1616, was to +have one hundred acres "upon the first division," to be afterwards +augmented by another hundred acres, and as much more for every share +of stock (L12 6s.) actually paid by him. Every one imported by the +company within the same period was, after the expiration of his +service, to have one hundred acres; while settlers who came at their +own expense, after April, 1616, were to receive fifty acres apiece. In +order to relieve the inhabitants from taxes "as much as may be," lands +were to be laid out for the support of the governor and other +officers, to be tilled by servants sent over for that purpose. Four +corporations were to be created, with Kecoughtan, Jamestown, Charles +City, and Henrico as capital cities in each, respectively; and it was +announced that thereafter the people of the colony were to share with +the company in the making of laws.[7] + +Accordingly, July 30, 1619, the first legislative assembly that ever +convened on the American continent met in the church at Jamestown. It +consisted of the governor, six councillors, and twenty burgesses, two +from each of ten plantations. The delegates from Brandon, Captain John +Martin's plantation, were not seated, because of a particular clause +in his patent exempting it from colonial authority. The assembly, +after a prayer from Rev. Richard Buck, of Jamestown, sat six days and +did a great deal of work. Petitions were addressed to the company in +England for permission to change "the savage name of Kecoughtan," for +workmen to erect a "university and college," and for granting the +girls and boys of all the old planters a share of land each, "because +that in a new plantation it is not known whether man or woman be the +more necessary." Laws were made against idleness, drunkenness, gaming, +and other misdemeanors, but the death penalty was prescribed only in +case of such "traitors to the colony" as sold fire-arms to the +Indians. To prevent extravagance in dress parish taxes were "cessed" +according to apparel--"if he be unmarried, according to his own +apparel; if he be married, according to his own and his wife's or +either of their apparel." Statutes were also passed for encouraging +agriculture and for settling church discipline according to the rules +of the church of England.[8] + +Another significant event during this memorable year was the +introduction of negro slavery into Virginia. A Dutch ship arrived at +Jamestown in August, 1619, with some negroes, of whom twenty were sold +to the planters.[9] + +A third event was the arrival of a ship from England with ninety +"young maidens" to be sold to the settlers for wives, at the cost of +their transportation--viz., one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco +(equivalent to $500 in present currency).[10] Cargoes of this +interesting merchandise continued to arrive for many years. + +It was fortunate that with the arrival of Yardley the supervision of +Virginia affairs in England passed into hands most interested in +colonial welfare. Sir Thomas Smith had been treasurer or president of +the company for twelve years; but as he was also president of four +other companies some thought that he did not give the proper attention +to Virginia matters. For this reason, and because he was considered +responsible for the selection of Argall, the leaders of his party +determined to elect a new treasurer; and a private quarrel between +Smith and the head of the court party, Lord Rich, helped matters to +this end. To gratify a temporary spleen against Smith, Lord Rich +consented to vote for Sir Edwin Sandys, and April 28, 1619, he was +accordingly elected treasurer with John Ferrar as his deputy. Smith +was greatly piqued, abandoned his old friends, and soon after began to +act with Rich in opposition to Sandys and his group of supporters.[11] + +Sandys threw himself into his work with great ardor, and scarcely a +month passed that a ship did not leave England loaded with emigrants +and cattle for Virginia. At the end of the year the company would have +elected him again but for the interference of King James, who regarded +him as the head of the party in Parliament opposed to his prerogative. +He sent word to "choose the devil if you will, but not Sir Edwin +Sandys." Thereupon Sandys stepped aside and the earl of Southampton, +who agreed with him in all his views, was appointed and kept in office +till the company's dissolution; and for much of this time Nicholas +Ferrar, brother of John, acted as deputy to the earl.[12] The king, +however, was no better satisfied, and Count Gondomar, the Spanish +minister, took advantage of the state of things to tell James that he +had "better look to the Virginia courts which were kept at Ferrar's +house, where too many of his nobility and gentry resorted to accompany +the popular Lord Southampton and the dangerous Sandys. He would find +in the end these meetings would prove a _seminary for a seditious +parliament_."[13] These words, it is said, made a deep impression upon +the king, always jealous for his prerogatives. + +For two years, however, the crown stayed its hand and the affairs of +Virginia greatly improved. Swarms of emigrants went out and many new +plantations sprang up in the Accomack Peninsula and on both sides of +the James. The most striking feature of these settlements was the +steady growth of the tobacco trade. In 1619 twenty thousand pounds +were exported, and in 1622 sixty thousand pounds. This increasing +importation excited the covetousness of the king, as well as the +jealousy of the Spanish government, whose West India tobacco had +hitherto monopolized the London market. Directly contrary to the +provision of the charter which exempted tobacco from any duty except +five per cent., the king in 1619 levied an exaction of one shilling a +pound, equal to twenty per cent. The London Company submitted on +condition that the raising of tobacco in England should be prohibited, +which was granted. In 1620 a royal proclamation limited the +importation of tobacco from Virginia and the Bermuda Islands to +fifty-five thousand pounds, whereupon the whole of the Virginia crop +for that year was transported to Flushing and sold in Holland. As this +deprived the king of his revenue, the Privy Council issued an order in +1621 compelling the company to bring all their tobacco into +England.[14] + +Nevertheless, these disturbances did not interfere with the prosperity +of the settlers. Large fortunes were accumulated in a year or two by +scores of planters;[15] and soon in the place of the old log-cabins +arose framed buildings better than many in England. Lands were laid +out for a free school at Charles City (now City Point) and for a +university and college at Henrico (Dutch Gap). Monthly courts were +held in every settlement, and there were large crops of corn and great +numbers of cattle, swine, and poultry. A contemporary writer states +that "the plenty of those times, unlike the old days of death and +confusion, was such that every man gave free entertainment to friends +and strangers."[16] + +This prosperity is marred by a story of heart-rending sickness and +suffering. An extraordinary mortality due to imported epidemics, and +diseases of the climate for which in these days we have found a remedy +in quinine, slew the new-comers by hundreds. One thousand people were +in Virginia at Easter, 1619, and to this number three thousand five +hundred and seventy more were added during the next three years,[17] +yet only one thousand two hundred and forty were resident in the +colony on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, a day when the horrors of an +Indian massacre reduced the number to eight hundred and +ninety-four.[18] + +Since 1614, when Pocahontas married John Rolfe, peace with the Indians +continued uninterruptedly, except for a short time in 1617, when there +was an outbreak of the Chickahominies, speedily suppressed by Deputy +Governor Yardley. In April, 1618, Powhatan died,[19] and the chief +power was wielded by a brother, Opechancanough, at whose instance the +savages, at "the taking up of Powhatan's bones" in 1621, formed a plot +for exterminating the English. Of this danger Yardley received some +information, and he promptly fortified the plantations, but +Opechancanough professed friendship. Under Sir Francis Wyatt for some +months everything went on quietly; but about the middle of March, +1622, a noted Indian chief, called Nemmattanow, or Jack o' the +Feather, slew a white man and was slain in retaliation. Wyatt was +alarmed, but Opechancanough assured him that "he held the peace so +firme that the sky should fall ere he dissolved it," so that the +settlers again "fed the Indians at their tables and lodged them in +their bedchambers."[20] + +Then like lightning from a clear sky fell the massacre upon the +unsuspecting settlers. The blow was terrible to the colonists: the +Indians, besides killing many of the inhabitants, burned many houses +and destroyed a great quantity of stock. At first the settlers were +panic-stricken, but rage succeeded fear. They divided into squads, and +carried fire and sword into the Indian villages along the James and +the York. In a little while the success of the English was so complete +that they were able to give their time wholly to their crops and to +rebuilding their houses.[21] + +To the company the blow was a fatal one, though it did not manifest +its results immediately. So far was the massacre from affecting the +confidence of the public in Southampton and his friends at the head of +the company that eight hundred good settlers went to Virginia during +the year 1622, and John Smith wrote, "Had I meanes I might have choice +of ten thousand that would gladly go."[22] But during the summer the +members of the company were entangled in a dispute, of which advantage +was taken by their enemies everywhere. At the suggestion of the crafty +earl of Middlesex, the lord high treasurer of England, they were +induced to apply to the king for a monopoly of the sale of tobacco in +England; and it was granted on two conditions--viz., that they should +pay the king L20,000 (supposed to be the value of a third of the total +crop of Virginia tobacco) and import at least forty thousand pounds +weight of Spanish tobacco. Though this last was a condition demanded +by the king doubtless to placate the Spanish court, with whom he was +negotiating for the marriage of his son Charles to the infanta, the +contract on the whole was displeasing to Count Gondomar, the Spanish +minister. He fomented dissensions in the company over the details, and +Middlesex, the patron of the measure, being a great favorer of the +Spanish match, changed sides upon his own proposition.[23] + +In April, 1623, Alderman Robert Johnson, deputy to Sir Thomas Smith +during the time of his government, brought a petition to the king for +the appointment of a commission in England to inquire into the +condition of the colony, which he declared was in danger of +destruction by reason of "dissensions among ourselves and the massacre +and hostility of the natives." This petition was followed by a +scandalous paper, called _The Unmasking of Virginia_, presented to the +king by another tool of Count Gondomar, one Captain Nathaniel +Butler.[24] The company had already offended the king, and these new +developments afforded him all the excuse that he wanted for taking +extreme measures. He first attempted to cow the company into a +"voluntary" surrender by seizing their books and arresting their +leading members. When this did not avail, the Privy Council, November +3, 1623, appointed a commission to proceed to Virginia and make a +report upon which judicial proceedings might be had. The company +fought desperately, and in April, 1624, appealed to Parliament, but +King James forbade the Commons to interfere. + +In June, 1624, the expected paper from Virginia came to hand, and the +cause was argued the same month at Trinity term on a writ of _quo +warranto_ before Chief-Justice James Ley of the King's Bench. The +legal status of the company was unfavorable, for it was in a hopeless +tangle, and the death record in the colony was an appalling fact. +When, therefore, the attorney-general, Coventry, attacked the company +for mismanagement, even an impartial tribune might have quashed the +charter. But the case was not permitted to be decided on its merits. +The company made a mistake in pleading, which was taken advantage of +by Coventry, and on this ground the patent was voided the last day of +the term (June 16, 1624).[25] + +Thus perished the great London Company, which in settling Virginia +expended upward of L200,000 (equal to $5,000,000 in present currency) +and sent more than fourteen thousand emigrants. It received back from +Virginia but a small part of the money it invested, and of all the +emigrants whom it sent over, and their children, only one thousand two +hundred and twenty-seven survived the charter. The heavy cost of the +settlement was not a loss, for it secured to England a fifth kingdom +and planted in the New World the germs of civil liberty. In this +service the company did not escape the troubles incident to the +mercenary purpose of a joint-stock partnership, yet it assumed a +national and patriotic character, which entitles it to be considered +the greatest and noblest association ever organized by the English +people.[26] However unjust the measures taken by King James to +overthrow the London Company, the incident was fortunate for the +inhabitants of Virginia. The colony had reached a stage of development +which needed no longer the supporting hand of a distant corporation +created for profit. + +In Virginia, sympathy with the company was so openly manifested that +the Governor's council ordered their clerk, Edward Sharpless, to lose +his ears[27] for daring to give King James's commissioners copies of +certain of their papers; and in January, 1624, a protest, called _The +Tragical Relation_, was addressed to the king by the General Assembly, +denouncing the administration of Sir Thomas Smith and his faction and +extolling that of Sandys and Southampton. The sufferings of the colony +under the former were vigorously painted, and they ended by saying, +"And rather (than) to be reduced to live under the like government we +desire his ma^tie y^t commissioners may be sent over w^th authoritie +to hang us." + +Although Wyatt cordially joined in these protests, and was a most +popular governor, the General Assembly about the same time passed an +act[28] in the following words: "The governor shall not lay any taxes +or ympositions upon the colony, their lands or commodities, other way +than by authority of the General Assembly to be levied and ymployed as +the said assembly shall appoynt." By this act Virginia formally +asserted the indissoluble connection of taxation and representation. + +The next step was to frame a government which would correspond to the +new relations of the colony. June 24, 1624, a few days after the +decision of Chief-Justice Ley, the king appointed a commission of +sixteen persons, among whom were Sir Thomas Smith and other opponents +of Sandys and Southampton, to take charge, temporarily, of Virginia +affairs; and (July 15) he enlarged this commission by forty more +members. On their advice he issued, August 26, 1624, authority to Sir +Francis Wyatt, governor, and twelve others in Virginia, as councillors +to conduct the government of the colony, under such instructions as +they might receive from him or them. + +In these orders it is expressly stated that the king's intention was +not to disturb the interest of either planter or adventurer; while +their context makes it clear that he proposed to avoid "the +popularness" of the former government and to revive the charter of +1606 with some amendments. King James died March 27, 1625, and by his +death this commission for Virginia affairs expired.[29] + +Charles I. had all the arbitrary notions of his father, but +fortunately he was under personal obligations to Sir Edwin Sandys and +Nicholas Ferrar, Jr., and for their sake was willing to be liberal in +his dealing with the colonists.[30] Hence, soon after his father's +death, he dismissed the former royal commissioners and intrusted +affairs relating to Virginia to a committee of the Privy Council, who +ignored the Smith party and called the Sandys party into +consultation.[31] These last presented a paper in April, 1625, called +_The Discourse of the Old Company_, in which they reviewed fully the +history of the charter and petitioned to be reincorporated. Charles +was not unwilling to grant the request, and in a proclamation dated +May 13, 1625, he avowed that he had come to the same opinion as his +father, and intended to have a "royal council in England and another +in Virginia, but not to impeach the interest of any adventurer or +planter in Virginia." + +Still ignorant of the death of King James, Governor Sir Francis Wyatt +and his council, together with representatives from the plantations +informally called, sent George Yardley to England with a petition, +dated June 15, 1625, that they be permitted the right of a general +assembly, that worthy emigrants be encouraged, and that none of the +old faction of Sir Thomas Smith and Alderman Johnson have a part in +the administration; "for rather than endure the government of these +men they were resolved to seek the farthest part of the world." + +Yardley reached England in October; and the king, when informed of +Wyatt's desire to resign the government of Virginia on account of his +private affairs, issued a commission, dated April 16, 1626, renewing +the authority of the council in Virginia and appointing Yardley +governor.[32] The latter returned to Virginia, but died in 1627. After +his death the king sent directions to Acting Governor Francis West to +summon a general assembly; and March 26, 1628, after an interval of +four years, the regular law-making body again assembled at Jamestown, +an event second only in importance to the original meeting in +1619.[33] + +Other matters besides the form of government pressed upon the +attention of the settlers. Tobacco entered more and more into the life +of the colony, and the crop in the year 1628 amounted to upward of +five hundred thousand pounds.[34] King Charles took the ground of +Sandys and Southampton, that the large production was only temporary, +and like his father, subjected tobacco in England to high duties and +monopoly. He urged a varied planting and the making of pitch and tar, +pipe-staves, potashes, iron, and bay-salt, and warned the planters +against "building their plantation wholly on smoke." It was observed, +however, that Charles was receiving a large sum of money from customs +on tobacco,[35] and it was not likely that his advice would be taken +while the price was 3s. 6d. a pound. Indeed, it was chiefly under the +stimulus of the culture of tobacco that the population of the colony +rose from eight hundred and ninety-four, after the massacre in 1622, +to about three thousand in 1629.[36] + +In March, 1629, Captain West went back to England, and a new +commission was issued to Sir John Harvey as governor.[37] He did not +come to the colony till the next year, and in the interval Dr. John +Pott acted as his deputy. At the assembly called by Pott in October, +1629, the growth of the colony was represented by twenty-three +settlements as against eleven ten years before. As in England, there +were two branches of the law-making body, a House of Burgesses, made +up of the representatives of the people, and an upper house consisting +of the governor and council. In the constitution of the popular branch +there was no fixed number of delegates, but each settlement had as +many as it chose to pay the expenses of, a custom which prevailed +until 1660, when the number of burgesses was limited to two members +for each county and one member for Jamestown.[38] + +In March, 1630, Harvey arrived, and Pott's former dignity as governor +did not save him from a mortifying experience. The council was not +only an upper house of legislation, but the supreme court of the +colony, and in July, 1630, Pott was arraigned before this tribunal for +stealing cattle, and declared guilty. Perhaps Harvey realized that +injustice was done, for he suspended the sentence, and on petition to +the king the case was re-examined in England by the commissioners for +Virginia, who decided that "condemning Pott of felony was very +rigorous if not erroneous."[39] + +The year 1630 was the beginning of a general movement of emigration +northward, and in October Chiskiack, an Indian district on the south +side of the York, about twenty-seven miles below the forks of the +river where Opechancanough resided, was occupied in force. So rapid +was the course of population that in less than two years this first +settlement upon the York was divided into Chiskiack and York. One year +after Chiskiack was settled, Kent Island in Chesapeake Bay was +occupied by a company under William Claiborne, the secretary of state; +and in 1632 Middle Plantation (afterwards Williamsburg) was laid out +and defended by a line of palisades from tide-water to tide-water.[40] + +Meanwhile, the old colonial parties did not cease to strive with one +another in England. Harvey had been appointed by the vacillating +Charles to please the former court party, but during the quarrel with +his Parliament over the Petition of Right he became anxious again to +conciliate the colonists and the members of the old company; and in +May, 1631, he appointed[41] a new commission, consisting of the earls +of Dorset and Danby, Sir John Danvers, Sir Dudley Digges, John Ferrar, +Sir Francis Wyatt, and others, to advise him upon "some course for +establishing the advancement of the plantation of Virginia." This +commission had many consultations, and unanimously resolved to +recommend to the king the renewal of the charter of 1612 with all its +former privileges--except the form of government, which was to be +exercised by the king through a council in London and a governor and +council in Virginia, both appointed by him. + +In June, 1632, Charles I. so vacillated as to grant Maryland, within +the bounds of "their ancient territories," to Lord Baltimore, +regardless of the protest of the Virginians; and April 28, 1634, he +revoked the liberal commission of 1631, and appointed another, called +"the Commission for Foreign Plantations," composed almost entirely of +opponents of the popular course of government, with William Laud, +archbishop of Canterbury, at the head. This commission had power to +"make laws and orders for government of English colonies planted in +foreign parts, to remove governors and require an account of their +government, to appoint judges and magistrates, to establish courts, to +amend all charters and patents, and to revoke those surreptitiously +and unduly obtained."[42] + +Harvey's conduct in Virginia reflected the views of the court party in +England. He offended his council by acting in important matters +without their consent, contrary to his instructions; and showed in +many ways that he was a friend of the persons in England who were +trying to make a monopoly of the tobacco trade. He attempted to lay +taxes, but the assembly, in February, 1632, re-enacted the law of 1624 +asserting their exclusive authority over the subject.[43] At the head +of the opposition to Harvey was William Claiborne, the secretary of +state, who opposed Lord Baltimore's claim to Maryland, and, in +consequence, was in the latter part of 1634 turned out of office by +Harvey, to make way for Richard Kempe, one of Lord Baltimore's +friends. + +The people of Virginia began in resentment to draw together in little +groups, and talked of asking for the removal of the governor; and +matters came to a crisis in April, 1635, when Harvey suppressed a +petition addressed to the king by the assembly regarding the tobacco +contract, and justified an attack by Lord Baltimore's men upon a +pinnace of Claiborne engaged in the fur trade from Kent Island. At +York, in April, 1635, a meeting of protest was held at the house of +William Warren. + +Harvey was enraged at the proceeding and caused the leaders to be +arrested. Then he called a council at Jamestown, and the scenes in the +council chamber are interestingly described in contemporary letters. +Harvey demanded the execution of martial law upon the prisoners, and +when the council held back he flew into a passion and attempted to +arrest George Menifie, one of the members, for high-treason. Captain +John Utie and Captain Samuel Matthews retorted by making a similar +charge against Harvey, and he was arrested by the council, and +confined at the house of Captain William Brocas. Then the council +elected Captain John West, of Chiskiack, brother of Lord Delaware, as +governor, and summoned an assembly to meet at Jamestown in May +following. This body promptly ratified the action of the council, and +Harvey was put aboard a ship and sent off to England in charge of two +members of the House of Burgesses.[44] + +This deposition of a royal governor was a bold proceeding and mightily +surprised King Charles. He declared it an act of "regal authority," +had the two daring burgesses arrested, and on the complaint of Lord +Baltimore, who befriended Harvey, caused West, Utie, Menifie, +Matthews, and others of the unfriendly councillors to appear in +England to answer for their crimes. Meanwhile, to rebuke the dangerous +precedent set in Virginia, he thought it necessary to restore Harvey +to his government.[45] + +Harvey did not enjoy his second lease of power long, for the king, in +the vicissitudes of English politics, found it wise to turn once more +a favorable ear to the friends of the old company, and in January, +1639, Sir Francis Wyatt, who had governed Virginia so acceptably once +before, was commissioned to succeed Harvey. The former councillors in +Virginia were restored to power, and in the king's instructions to +Wyatt the name of Captain West was inserted as "Muster-Master-General" +in Charles's own handwriting.[46] + +[Footnote 1: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, II., 543-554; +_First Republic_, 165-167.] + +[Footnote 2: Brown, _English Politics in Early Virginia History_, +24-33.] + +[Footnote 3: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, II., 775-779, +797-799.] + +[Footnote 4: Ibid., 967.] + +[Footnote 5: Virginia Company, _Proceedings_ (Va. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, new series, VII., VIII.), I., 65, II., 198.] + +[Footnote 6: _Discourse of the Old Company_, in _Va. Magazine_, I., +157.] + +[Footnote 7: Instructions to Yardley, 1618, ibid., II., 154-165.] + +[Footnote 8: _Assembly Journal_, 1619, in Va. State Senate +_Documents_, 1874.] + +[Footnote 9: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 541.] + +[Footnote 10: Virginia Company, _Proceedings_ (Va. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, new series, VII.), I., 67.] + +[Footnote 11: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, II., 1014; +Bradford, _Plymouth_, 47.] + +[Footnote 12: Virginia Company, _Proceedings_ (Va. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, new series, VII.), I., 78.] + +[Footnote 13: Peckard, _Ferrar_, 115.] + +[Footnote 14: _Discourse of the Old Company_, in _Va. Magazine_, I., +161.] + +[Footnote 15: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 562.] + +[Footnote 16: _Breife Declaration_; Neill, _Virginia Company_, +395-406.] + +[Footnote 17: Neill, _Virginia Company_, 334.] + +[Footnote 18: Brown, _First Republic_, 464, 467.] + +[Footnote 19: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 539.] + +[Footnote 20: _William and Mary Quarterly_, IX., 203-214; Neill, +_Virginia Company_, 293, 307-321; Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), +572-594.] + +[Footnote 21: Neill, _Virginia Company_, 364, 366.] + +[Footnote 22: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 263.] + +[Footnote 23: _Discourse of the Old Company_, in _Va. Magazine_, I., +291-293.] + +[Footnote 24: Neill, _Virginia Company_, 395-407.] + +[Footnote 25: Peckard, _Ferrar_, 145; _Discourse of the Old Company_, +in _Va. Magazine_, I., 297.] + +[Footnote 26: Brown, _First Republic_, 615.] + +[Footnote 27: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, 74; Neill, +_Virginia Company_, 407.] + +[Footnote 28: Hening, _Statutes_., I., 124.] + +[Footnote 29: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1674, p. 64, 1574-1660, +p. 62.] + +[Footnote 30: Brown, _English Politics in Early Virginia History_, +89.] + +[Footnote 31: Brown, _First Republic_, 640, 641]. + +[Footnote 32: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 73, 74, 79.] + +[Footnote 33: Ibid., 86, 88; Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 55.] + +[Footnote 34: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 134.] + +[Footnote 35: In 1624 the crop was three hundred thousand pounds, the +total importations from Virginia, Bermuda, and Spain four hundred and +fifty thousand pounds, and the profit in customs to the crown was +L93,350.] + +[Footnote 36: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 37: Ibid., 88.] + +[Footnote 38: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 147, II., 20.] + +[Footnote 39: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 133.] + +[Footnote 40: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 208, 257; Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 4th series, IX., III.] + +[Footnote 41: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 42: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 136, 177.] + +[Footnote 43: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 171.] + +[Footnote 44: _Va. Magazine_, I., 416, 425, VIII., 299-306; Neill, +_Virginia Carolorum_, 118-120.] + +[Footnote 45: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 216, 217.] + +[Footnote 46: Wyatt's commission, in _Va. Magazine_, XI., 50-54; _Cal. +of State Pap., Col_., 1574-1674, p. 83.] + +[Illustration: VIRGINIA IN 1652. Showing the Counties and Dates of +their Formation.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF VIRGINIA + +(1634-1652) + + +During the vicissitudes of government in Virginia the colony continued +to increase in wealth and population, and in 1634 eight counties were +created;[1] while an official census in April, 1635, showed nearly +five thousand people, to which number sixteen hundred were added in +1636. The new-comers during Harvey's time were principally servants +who came to work the tobacco-fields.[2] Among them were some convicts +and shiftless people, but the larger number were persons of +respectable standing, and some had comfortable estates and influential +connections in England.[3] Freed from their service in Virginia, not a +few attained positions as justices of the peace and burgesses in the +General Assembly.[4] + +The trade of Virginia was become so extensive that Dutch as well as +English ships sought the colony. The principal settlements were on the +north side of James River, and as the voyager in 1634 sailed from +Chesapeake Bay he passed first the new fort at Point Comfort lately +constructed by Captain Samuel Matthews. About five miles farther on +was Newport News, chiefly remarkable for its spring, where all the +ships stopped to take in water, at this time the residence of Captain +Daniel Gookin, a prominent Puritan, who afterwards removed to +Massachusetts. Five miles above Newport News, at Deep Creek, was +Denbeigh, Captain Samuel Matthews's place, a miniature village rather +than plantation, where many servants were employed, hemp and flax +woven, hides tanned, leather made into shoes, cattle and swine raised +for the ships outward bound, and a large dairy and numerous poultry +kept. + +A few hours' sail from Denbeigh was Littletown, the residence of +George Menifie. He had a garden of two acres on the river-side, which +was full of roses of Provence, apple, pear, and cherry trees, and the +various fruits of Holland, with different kinds of sweet-smelling +herbs, such as rosemary, sage, marjoram, and thyme. Growing around the +house was an orchard of peach-trees, which astonished his visitors +very much, for they were not to be seen anywhere else on the coast.[5] + +About six miles farther was Jamestown, a village of three hundred +inhabitants, built upon two streets at the upper end of the island. +There the governor resided with some of his council, one of whom, +Captain William Pierce, had a garden of three or four acres, from +which his wife a few years before obtained a hundred bushels of +figs.[6] The houses there as elsewhere were of wood, with brick +chimneys, but architecture was improving. + +In 1637 the General Assembly offered a lot to every person who should +build a house at Jamestown Island; and in pursuance of the +encouragement given, "twelve new houses and stores were built in the +town," one of brick by Richard Kempe, "the fairest ever known in this +country for substance and uniformity." About the same time money was +raised for a brick church and a brick state-house.[7] As to the +general condition of the colony in 1634, Captain Thomas Young reported +that there was not only a "very great plentie of milk, cheese, and +butter, but of corn, which latter almost every planter in the colony +hath."[8] + +Such a "plentie of corn" must be contrasted with the scarcity in 1630, +for the current of prosperity did not run altogether smoothly. The +mortality still continued frightful, and "during the months of June, +July, and August, the people died like cats and dogs,"[9] a statement +especially true of the servants, of whom hardly one in five survived +the first year's hardships in the malarial tobacco-fields along the +creeks and rivers.[10] In 1630 tobacco tumbled from its high price of +3s. 6d. to 1d. per pound, and the colony was much "perplexed" for want +of money to buy corn, which they had neglected to raise. To relieve +the distress, Harvey, the next year, sent several ships to trade with +the Indians up Chesapeake Bay and on the coast as far south as Cape +Fear.[11] + +Tobacco legislation for the next ten years consisted in regulations +vainly intended to prevent further declines. Tobacco fluctuated in +value from one penny to sixpence, and, as it was the general currency, +this uncertainty caused much trouble. Some idea of the general +dependency upon tobacco may be had from a statute in 1640, which, +after providing for the destruction of all the bad tobacco and half +the good, estimated the remainder actually placed upon the market by a +population of eight thousand at one million five hundred thousand +pounds.[12] + +The decline in the price of tobacco had the effect of turning the +attention of the planters to other industries, especially the supply +of corn to the large emigration from England to Massachusetts. In 1631 +a ship-load of corn from Virginia was sold at Salem, in Massachusetts, +for ten shillings the bushel.[13] In 1634 at least ten thousand +bushels were taken to Massachusetts, besides "good quantities of +beeves, goats, and hogs";[14] and Harvey declared that Virginia had +become "the granary of all his majesty's northern colonies,"[15] Yet +from an imported pestilence, the year 1636 was so replete with misery +that Samuel Maverick, of Massachusetts, who visited the colony, +reported that eighteen hundred persons died, and corn sold at twenty +shillings per bushel.[16] + +Sir Francis Wyatt arrived in the colony, November, 1639, and +immediately called Harvey to account for his abuse of power. The +decree against Panton was repealed, and his estate, which had been +seized, was returned to him, while the property of Harvey was taken to +satisfy his numerous creditors.[17] The agitation for the renewal of +the charter still continued, and Wyatt called a general assembly +January, 1640, at which time it was determined to make another effort. +George Sandys was appointed agent of the colony in England, and +petitions reached England probably in the autumn of 1640. The breach +between the king and Parliament was then complete, and Charles had +thrown himself entirely into the arms of the court party. Sandys, +despairing of success from the king, appealed to Parliament in the +name of the "Adventurers and Planters in Virginia," and "the Virginia +patent was taken out again under the broad seal of England."[18] To +what extent the new charter established the boundaries of Virginia +does not appear, and the subsequent turn of affairs in Virginia made +the action of Parliament at this time a nullity. + +To offset these proceedings, the king commissioned[19] Sir William +Berkeley, a vehement royalist, as successor to the popular Wyatt, and +he arrived in Virginia in January, 1642, where he at once called an +assembly to undo the work of Sandys. A petition to the king protesting +against the restoration of the company was adopted, but although it +was signed by the council and burgesses, as well as by Berkeley, the +preamble alludes to strong differences of opinion.[20] The change of +position was doubtless brought about by the issue made in England +between loyalty and rebellion; and, while desirous of a recharter, the +majority of the people of Virginia did not care to desert the king. +The petition was presented July 5, 1642, to Charles at his +headquarters at York, who returned a gracious reply that "he had not +the least intention to consent to the introduction of any +company."[21] + +While loyal to the king, the people of Virginia had never been wedded +to the views of the high-church party in England. Among the ministers +the surplice was not usual, and there was a Puritan severity about the +laws in regard to the Sabbath and attendance at church. As the strife +in England became more pronounced, the people in Nansemond and lower +Norfolk counties, on the south of the James, showed decided leanings +towards Parliament and to the congregational form of worship. + +Soon they began to think of separating from the church of England +altogether, and they sent for ministers to New England in 1642. In +response, the elders there despatched three of their number, who, +arriving in Virginia, set zealously to work to organize the +congregations on the Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers. According to +their own account, these ministers met with much success till they +were suddenly stopped in the work by Berkeley, who persuaded the +assembly, in March, 1643, to pass severe laws against Nonconformists; +and under this authority drove them out of the land in 1644.[22] + +In the same year occurred an Indian attack which these preachers and +John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts, thought to be a special +visitation of Providence. After the massacre in 1622 the war with the +Indians had continued in a desultory way for over twelve years. Year +after year squads of soldiers were sent in various directions against +the different tribes, and by 1634 the Indians were so punished that +the whites thought it safe to make peace. Now, after a repose of ten +years, the fierce instincts of the savages for blood were once more +excited. + +April 18, 1644, was Good Friday, and Governor Berkeley ordered it to +be kept as a special fast day to pray for King Charles; instead, it +became a day of bloodshed and mourning.[23] The chief instigator of +the massacre of 1622 was still alive, old Opechancanough, who, by the +death of his brother Opitchapam, was now head chief of the Powhatan +Confederacy. Thinking the civil war in England a favorable occasion to +repeat the bloody deeds of twenty-two years before, on the day before +Good Friday he attacked the settlers, and continued the assault for +two days, killing over three hundred whites. The onslaught fell +severest on the south side of James River and on the heads of the +other rivers, but chiefly on the York River, where Opechancanough had +his residence.[24] + +The massacre of 1622 shook the colony to its foundation, and it is +surprising to see how little that of 1644 affected the current of life +in Virginia. Berkeley seemed to think so little of the attack that +after making William Claiborne general of an expedition against the +Pamunkey tribe he left the colony in June, 1645.[25] He was gone a +whole year, and on his return found that Claiborne had driven the +Indians far away from the settlements. In 1646 he received information +which enabled him to close the war with dramatic effect. At the head +of a body of cavalry he surprised old Opechancanough in an encampment +between the falls of the Appomattox and the James, and brought him, +aged and blind, to Jamestown, where, about three weeks later, one of +his guards shot him to death.[26] A peace was made not long after with +Necotowance, his successor, by which the Indians agreed to retire +entirely from the peninsula between the York and James rivers.[27] + +One of the most remarkable results of the massacre was the change it +produced in Rev. Thomas Harrison, Berkeley's chaplain at Jamestown, +who had used his influence with the governor to expel the +Nonconformist ministers of New England. He came to the belief of John +Winthrop that the massacre was a Providential visitation and turned +Puritan himself. After a quarrel with Berkeley he left Jamestown and +took charge of the churches on the Elizabeth and Nansemond rivers with +their Puritan congregations. Berkeley would probably have set the +law-officers upon him at once, but among his councillors was Richard +Bennett, himself of Harrison's congregation, and his influence held +the governor back for a time. + +Three years passed, and at length Harrison and his elder, William +Durand, were peremptorily directed to leave the colony. Harrison went +first to New England and then to old England, while William Durand +emigrated to Maryland, where, aided by Bennett, he made terms with +Governor William Stone for the emigration of his flock; and in the +year 1649 more than one thousand persons left Virginia and settled on +the Severn and Patuxent rivers. The settlement was called Providence, +and was destined to play a remarkable part in the history of +Maryland.[28] + +When the civil war in England was fairly on, emigration to Virginia +was much improved in material, and for many years was very large. The +new-comers came to make homes, not merely to make tobacco, and they no +longer consisted of servants, but of the merchants and yeomanry of +England. "If these troublous times hold long amongst us," wrote +William Hallam, a salter of Burnham, in Essex County, England, "we +must all faine come to Virginia."[29] + +Hitherto the uncertainty resulting from the overthrow of the charter +made it difficult to secure a good class of ministers. Those who came +had been "such as wore black coats and could babble in a pulpet, and +roare in a tavern, exact from their parishioners, and rather by their +dissolutenesse destroy than feed their flocks." Now these "wolves in +sheep's clothing" were by the assembly forced to depart the country +and a better class of clergymen arrived.[30] In 1649 there were twenty +churches and twenty ministers who taught the doctrines of the church +of England and "lived all in peace and love";[31] and at the head of +them was a roan of exemplary piety, Rev. Philip Mallory, son of Dr. +Thomas Mallory, Dean of Chester.[32] + +The condition of things about 1648 is thus summed up by Hammond, a +contemporary writer: "Then began the gospel to flourish; civil, +honorable, and men of great estates flocked in; famous buildings went +forward; orchards innumerable were planted and preserved; tradesmen +set to work and, encouraged, staple commodities, as silk, flax, +potashes attempted on.... So that this country, which had a mean +beginning, many back friends, two ruinous and bloody massacres, hath +by God's grace outgrown all, and is become a place of pleasure and +plenty." + +Later, after the beheading of King Charles in 1649, there was a large +influx of cavaliers, who, while they raised the quality of society, +much increased the sympathy felt in Virginia for the royal cause. +Under their influence Sir William Berkeley denounced the murder of +King Charles I., and the General Assembly adopted an act making it +treason to defend the late proceedings or to doubt the right of his +son, Charles II., to succeed to the crown.[33] Parliament was not long +in accepting the challenge which Berkeley tendered. In October, 1650, +they adopted an ordinance prohibiting trade with the rebellious +colonies of Virginia, Barbadoes, Antigua, and Bermuda Islands, and +authorizing the Council of State to take measures to reduce them to +terms.[34] + +In October, 1651, was passed the first of the navigation acts, which +limited the colonial trade to England, and banished from Virginia the +Dutch vessels, which carried abroad most of the exports. About the +same time, having taken measures against Barbadoes, the Council of +State ordered a squadron to be prepared against Virginia. It was +placed under the command of Captain Robert Dennis; and Thomas Stegge, +Richard Bennett, and William Claiborne, members of Berkeley's council, +were joined with him in a commission[35] to "use their best endeavors +to reduce all the plantations within the Bay of Chesopiack." Bennett +and Claiborne were in Virginia at the time, and probably did not know +of their appointment till the ships arrived in Virginia. + +The fleet left England in October, 1651, carrying six hundred men, but +on the way Captain Dennis and Captain Stegge were lost in a storm and +the command devolved on Captain Edmund Curtis.[36] In December they +reached the West Indies, where they assisted Sir George Ayscue in the +reduction of Barbadoes. In January, 1652, they reached Virginia, where +Curtis showed Claiborne and Bennett his duplicate instructions. +Berkeley, full of fight, called out the militia, twelve hundred +strong, and engaged the assistance of a few Dutch ships then trading +in James River contrary to the recent navigation act. + +The commissioners acted with prudence and good sense. They did not +proceed at once to Jamestown, but first issued a proclamation intended +to disabuse the people of any idea that they came to make war.[37] The +result was that in March, 1652, when they appeared before the little +capital, the council and burgesses overruled Berkeley, and entered +into an agreement with Curtis, Claiborne, and Bennett, which proves +the absence of hard feelings on both sides. The Virginians recognized +the authority of the commonwealth of England, and promised to pass no +statute contrary to the laws of Parliament. On the other hand, the +commissioners acknowledged the submission of Virginia, "as a voluntary +act not forced nor constrained by a conquest upon the countrey"; and +conceded her right "to be free from all taxes, customs, and +impositions whatever, not enforced by the General Assembly." In +particular it was stipulated that "Virginia should have and enjoy the +antient bounds and lymitts granted by the charters of the former +kings." + +The articles were signed March 12, 1652, and the commissioners soon +after sailed to St. Mary's and received the surrender of Maryland. +They returned in time to be present at a new meeting of the assembly +held at Jamestown in April, at which it was unanimously voted that +until the further pleasure of Parliament was known Richard Bennett +should be governor and William Claiborne secretary of state. To the +burgesses, as the representatives of the people, was handed over the +supreme power of thereafter electing all officers of the colony.[38] +Then Virginia, the last of the British dominions to abandon the king, +entered upon eight years of almost complete self-government, under the +protection of the commonwealth of England. + +In 1652 the settlements in Virginia were embraced in thirteen +counties, of which Northampton, on the Accomack Peninsula, extended to +the southern boundary of Maryland. On the James River were nine +counties: Henrico, Charles City, James City, Surry, Warwick, +Warascoyack, or Isle of Wight, Elizabeth City, Nansemond, and Lower +Norfolk. On York River were York County on the south side and +Gloucester on the north side.[39] On the Rappahannock was Lancaster +County, extending on both sides of the river from Pianketank to +Dividing Creek in the Northern Neck; and on the Potomac was the county +of Northumberland, first settled about 1638 at Chicacoan and +Appomattox on the Potomac, by refugees from Maryland.[40] + +Towards the south the plantations, following the watercourses, had +spread to the heads of the creeks and rivers, tributaries of the +James, and some persons more adventurous than the rest had even made +explorations in North Carolina.[41] Westward the extension was, of +course, greatest along the line of the James, reaching as far as the +Falls where Richmond now stands. The population was probably about +twenty thousand, of whom as many as five thousand were white servants +and five hundred were negroes. + +The houses throughout the colony were generally of wood, a story and a +half high, and were roofed with shingles. The chimneys were of brick, +and the wealthier people lived in houses constructed wholly of +home-made brick.[42] "They had, besides, good English furniture" and a +"good store of plate." By ordinary labor at making tobacco any person +could clear annually L20 sterling, the equivalent of $500 to-day. The +condition of the servants had greatly improved, and their labor was +not so hard nor of such continuance as that of farmers and mechanics +in England. Thefts were seldom committed, and an old writer asserts +that "he was an eye-witness in England to more deceits and villanies +in four months than he ever saw or heard mention of in Virginia in +twenty years abode there."[43] + +The plenty of everything made hospitality universal, and the health of +the country was greatly promoted by the opening of the forests. +Indeed, so contented were the people with their new homes that the +same writer declares, "Seldom (if ever) any that hath continued in +Virginia any time will or do desire to live in England, but post back +with what expedition they can, although many are landed men in +England, and have good estates there, and divers wayes of preferments +propounded to them to entice and perswade their continuance." + +In striking contrast to New England was the absence of towns, due +mainly to two reasons--first, the wealth of watercourses, which +enabled every planter of means to ship his products from his own +wharf; and, secondly, the culture of tobacco, which scattered the +people in a continual search for new and richer lands. This rural +life, while it hindered co-operation, promoted a spirit of +independence among the whites of all classes which counteracted the +aristocratic form of government. The colony was essentially a +democracy, for though the chief offices in the counties and the colony +at large were held by a few families, the people were protected by a +popular House of Burgesses, which till 1736 was practically +established on manhood suffrage. Negro slavery tended to increase this +independence by making race and not wealth the great distinction; and +the ultimate result was seen after 1792, when Virginia became the +headquarters of the Democratic-Republican party--the party of popular +ideas.[44] + +Under the conditions of Virginia society, no developed educational +system was possible, but it is wrong to suppose that there was none. +The parish institutions introduced from England included educational +beginnings; every minister had a school, and it was the duty of the +vestry to see that all poor children could read and write. The county +courts supervised the vestries and held a yearly "orphans' court," +which looked after the material and educational welfare of all +orphans.[45] + +The benevolent design of a free school in the colony, frustrated by +the massacre of 1622, was realized in 1635, when--three years before +John Harvard bequeathed his estate to the college near Boston which +bears his name--Benjamin Syms left "the first legacy by a resident of +the American plantations of England for the promotion of +education."[46] In 1659 Thomas Eaton established[47] a free school in +Elizabeth City County, adjoining that of Benjamin Syms; and a fund +amounting to $10,000, representing these two ancient charities, is +still used to carry on the public high-school at Hampton, Virginia. In +1655 Captain John Moon left a legacy for a free school in Isle of +Wight County; and in 1659 Captain William Whittington left two +thousand pounds of tobacco for a free school in Northampton County. + +[Footnote 1: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 224.] + +[Footnote 2: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 201, 231, +268.] + +[Footnote 3: _William and Mary Quarterly_, IV., 173-176, V., 40.] + +[Footnote 4: _Virginia's Cure_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. xv.).] + +[Footnote 5: De Vries, _Voyages_ (N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d +series, III., 34).] + +[Footnote 6: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 887.] + +[Footnote 7: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 288. In 1639 +Alexander Stonar, brickmaker, patented land on Jamestown Island "next +to the brick-kiln," Tyler, _Cradle of the Republic_, 46, 99.] + +[Footnote 8: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, IX., 108.] + +[Footnote 9: De Vries, _Voyages_ (N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d +series, III., 37)] + +[Footnote 10: _William and Mary Quarterly_, VII., 66, 114.] + +[Footnote 11: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 12: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 225.] + +[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 67.] + +[Footnote 14: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, IX., 110.] + +[Footnote 15: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 184.] + +[Footnote 16: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 228.] + +[Footnote 17: _Va. Magazine_, V., 123-128.] + +[Footnote 18: _Virginia and Maryland, or the Lord Baltimore's Printed +Case, uncased and answered_ (Force, _Tracts_, II, No. ix.).] + +[Footnote 19: _Va. Magazine_, II., 281-288.] + +[Footnote 20: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 230-235.] + +[Footnote 21: _Manuscript Collection of Annals relating to Virginia_ +(Force, _Tracts_, II., No. vi.).] + +[Footnote 22: Latane, _Early Relations between Maryland and Virginia_ +(_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, XIII., Nos. iii. and iv.).] + +[Footnote 23: Winthrop, _New England_, III, 198, 199]. + +[Footnote 24: Ibid.; Beverley, _Virginia_, 48.] + +[Footnote 25: _Va. Magazine_, VIII., 71-73.] + +[Footnote 26: _A Perfect Description of Virginia_ (Force, _Tracts_, +II., No. viii.); Beverley, _Virginia_, 49.] + +[Footnote 27: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 323-326.] + +[Footnote 28: Latane, _Early Relations_ (_Johns Hopkins University +Studies_, XIII.).] + +[Footnote 29: _William and Mary Quarterly_, VIII., 239.] + +[Footnote 30: Hammond, _Leah and Rachel_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. +xiv.).] + +[Footnote 31: _Perfect Description_ (ibid., II., No. viii.).] + +[Footnote 32: Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 238; Tyler, _Cradle of the +Republic_, 90.] + +[Footnote 33: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 359-361.] + +[Footnote 34: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 343.] + +[Footnote 35: _Md. Archives_, III., 265-267.] + +[Footnote 36: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 393.] + +[Footnote 37: See report of the commissioners, _Va. Magazine_, XI., +32.] + +[Footnote 38: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 363, 371.] + +[Footnote 39: Virginia Land Grants, _MSS_.] + +[Footnote 40: _Md. Archives_, IV., 268, 315.] + +[Footnote 41: Bancroft, _United States_ (22d ed.), II, 134.] + +[Footnote 42: Tyler, "Colonial Brick Houses," in _Century Magazine_, +February, 1896.] + +[Footnote 43: Hammond, _Leah and Rachel_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. +xiv.).] + +[Footnote 44: Tyler, "Virginians Voting in the Colonial Period," in +_William and Mary Quarterly_, VI., 9.] + +[Footnote 45: "Education in Colonial Virginia," _William and Mary +Quarterly_, V., 219-223, VI., 1-7, 71-86, 171-186, VII., 1-9, 65, 77.] + +[Footnote 46: Neill, _Virginia Carolorum_, 112.] + +[Footnote 47: "Eaton's Deed," in _William and Mary Quarterly_, XI, +19.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FOUNDING OF MARYLAND + +(1632-1650) + + +The founding of Maryland was due chiefly to the personal force of +George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, son of Leonard Calvert. He was +born near Kiplin, in Yorkshire, about 1580, and graduated at Trinity +College, Oxford, 1597. After making a tour of Europe he became the +private secretary of Sir Robert Cecil, who rapidly advanced his +fortunes. He served upon several missions to investigate the affairs +of Ireland, was knighted in 1617, and in 1619 succeeded Sir Thomas +Lake as principal secretary of state. + +In this office he began to revolve plans of colonization in America, +to which his attention was directed as a member of the Virginia +Company since 1609. In 1620 he bought from Sir William Vaughan the +southeastern peninsula of Newfoundland, known as Ferryland, and the +next year sent some colonists thither. He supported the Spanish match; +and when Charles changed his policy he obtained from the king in 1623 +a charter for his province, which he called Avalon. In 1625 he +resigned his secretaryship and openly avowed his adherence to the +church of Rome; but the king, as a mark of favor, raised him to the +Irish peerage, with the title of Baron of Baltimore, after a small +town of that name in Ireland.[1] + +Baltimore returned to his plans of colonization, and in 1627 went to +Newfoundland with his wife and children. But the country proved too +cold for him and he determined to "shift" to a warmer climate. +Accordingly, in August, 1629, he wrote to the king for a "grant of a +precinct of land in Virginia," with the same privileges as those which +King James gave him in Newfoundland.[2] Without waiting for a reply he +left Avalon, and in October, 1629, arrived in Virginia, where the +governor, Dr. John Pott, and his council received him politely but +coldly. Neither his religion nor his past career as a court favorite, +nor the design which he made known of establishing an independent +state within the confines of Virginia, commended him to the people of +Jamestown. + +Naturally, they wished to get rid of him, and the council tendered him +the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, which, in the various +instructions from the king, they were strictly enjoined to require of +all new-comers. The oath of allegiance occasioned no difficulty, but +the oath of supremacy, which required Baltimore to swear that he +believed the king to be "the only supreme governor in his realm in all +spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes," was repugnant to him as +a Catholic, and he declined to take it, but offered to subscribe to a +modified form. This was refused, and after several weeks' sojourn Lord +Baltimore sailed away to England to press his suit in person before +the king.[3] + +So far as the law of England stood at that time, the effect of the +dissolution of the London Company was to extinguish the debts of the +corporation and vest all its property undisposed of in the crown. On +the other hand, there were the repeated official pledges of Charles +and his father not to disturb the interest of either planter or +adventurer in any part of the territory formerly conveyed by the +charter of 1609.[4] Nevertheless, the king preferred law to equity, +and October 30, 1629, granted to Sir Robert Heath the province of +Carolana in the southern part of Virginia, between thirty-one and +thirty-six degrees.[5] But there was a clause in this charter +excepting any land "actually granted or in possession of any of his +majesty's subjects." + +About the same time Cottington, the secretary of state, was directed +to answer Lord Baltimore's letter written from Newfoundland and +promise him "any part of Virginia not already granted." Lord Baltimore +arrived in London soon after this letter was written, and in December, +1629, petitioned to be permitted to "choose for his part" a tract +south of James River and north of Carolana. A charter was made out for +him in February, 1631, and would have passed the seals but for the +intervention of William Claiborne, one of those Virginia councillors +who had offered the oath to Baltimore.[6] + +William Claiborne, the second son of Sir Edward Claiborne, of +Westmoreland County, England, went over to Virginia with Governor +Wyatt in 1621 as surveyor-general of the colony. Shortly afterwards he +was made a councillor, and in 1625 secretary of state of the colony. +In the Indian war, which began with the massacre in 1622, he was +appointed general, and in 1629 received lands in the Pamunkey Neck for +valuable military service. Active and fearless, he engaged with great +success in the trade for furs in the bay, and was recognized as the +foremost man in Virginia. Sent in May, 1630, by the Virginia council +to watch the movements of Lord Baltimore, he co-operated in England +with ex-Governor Francis West, of Virginia, Sir John Wolstenholme, and +other gentlemen who wished the restoration of the London Company. + +Aided by these friends, Claiborne defeated the proposed grant, but +Baltimore persevered, and, in April, 1632, received from the crown a +patent for a portion of the Virginia territory lying north of Point +Comfort, and having for bounds the ocean, the fortieth parallel of +north latitude, the meridian of the western fountain of the Potomac, +the southern bank of the Potomac River, and a line drawn east from +Watkins Point. In the grant the land was described as "hitherto +unsettled and occupied only by barbarians ignorant of God." The king +first proposed to call it Mariana, in honor of his wife, Henrietta +Maria, but on Baltimore objecting that it was the name of a Spanish +historian who had written against the doctrine of passive obedience, +Charles modified the appellation, and said, "Let it be called Terra +Mariae--Maryland."[7] + +April 15, 1632, George Calvert died, and the charter was made out in +the name of his eldest son, Cecilius, and was signed by the king, June +20, 1632. Cecilius Calvert, named after Sir Robert Cecil, was born in +1605, and in 1621 entered Trinity College, Oxford University. He +married Anne Arundel, daughter of Lord Thomas Arundel, of Wardour. As +Cecilius, unlike his father, never held public positions in England, +his character is best revealed by his conduct of his province in +America, which shows him to have been a man of consummate prudence and +tact. + +Baltimore's grant called forth a strong remonstrance from members of +the Virginia Company and all the leading planters in Virginia, +including Claiborne. The matter was referred by the king to the +Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, who heard the complaint, and +July 3, 1633, decided to "leave Lord Baltimore to his patent" and "the +other partie to the course of the law."[8] This certainly meant a +decision against the wholesale claim of Virginia to the ancient +limits, and was deemed by Lord Baltimore as authorizing him to go on +with his settlement; and his patent authorized a form of government +entirely different from anything yet tried in America. + +The English colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts were founded by +joint-stock companies really or ostensibly for profit. After the +suppression of the London Company in 1624, the powers of government in +Virginia devolved upon the king, and the government was called a crown +government. Had Charles been a Spanish or French king he would have +appointed an absolute governor who would have tyrannized over the +people. But Charles, as an English king, admitted the colonists into a +share of the government by permitting them to elect one of the +branches of the law-making body. This concession effectually secured +the liberties of the people, for the House of Burgesses, possessing +the sole right to originate laws, became in a short time the most +influential factor of the government. + +Baltimore's government for Maryland, on the other hand, was to be a +palatinate similar to the bishopric of Durham, in England, which took +its origin when border warfare with Scotland prevailed, and the king +found it necessary to invest the bishop, as ruler of the county, with +exceptionally high powers for the protection of the kingdom. Durham +was the solitary surviving instance in England of the county +palatinate, so called because the rulers had in their counties _jura +regalia_ as fully as the king had in his palace. In Durham the bishop +had the sole power of pardoning offences, appointing judges and other +officers, coining money, and granting titles of honor and creating +courts. In the other counties of England all writs ran in the king's +name, but in Durham they ran in the bishop's. The county had no +representation in the House of Commons, and were it not that the +bishop was a member of the House of Lords, an officer of the church, +paid taxes into the national treasury, and had to submit to appeals to +the court of exchequer in London, in cases to which he was a party, he +was, to all intents and purposes, a king, and his county an +independent nation. + +Baltimore by his charter was made even more independent of the king of +England than the bishop, for neither he nor his province had any taxes +to pay into the British treasury, and he held his territory in free +and common socage by the delivery of two Indian arrows yearly at the +palace of Windsor and a promise of the fifth part of all gold and +silver mined. In legislation the bishop had decidedly the advantage, +for his power to make law was practically uncontrolled, while the +proprietor of Maryland could only legislate "with the advice, assent, +and approbation of the freemen or the greater part of them or their +representatives."[9] + +One cardinal feature of Lord Baltimore's colony found no expression +either in the government of Durham or in his own charter. On their +liberality in the question of religion the fame of both George and +Cecilius Calvert most securely rests. While neither realized the +sacredness of the principle of religious freedom, there is no doubt +that both father and son possessed a liberality of feeling which +placed them ahead of their age. Had policy been solely their motive, +they would never have identified themselves with a persecuted and +powerless sect in England. In the charter of Maryland, Baltimore was +given "the patronage and advowsons of all churches which, with the +increasing worship and religion of Christ within the said region, +hereafter shall happen to be built, together with the license and +faculty of erecting and founding churches, chapels, and places of +worship in convenient and suitable places within the premises, and of +causing the same to be dedicated and consecrated according to the +ecclesiastical laws of England." This clause was far from establishing +religious freedom; but while it permitted Baltimore to found Anglican +churches, it did not compel him to do so or prohibit him from +permitting the foundation of churches of a different stamp. + +About the middle of October, 1633, Baltimore's two ships got under way +for America--the _Ark_, of three hundred tons, and the _Dove_, of +sixty tons. The emigrants consisted of twenty gentlemen and about +three hundred laborers; and, while most of the latter were +Protestants, the governor, Leonard Calvert, brother of Lord Baltimore, +was a Catholic, as were Thomas Cornwallis and Gabriel Harvey, the two +councillors associated with him in the government, and the other +persons of influence on board. Among the latter were two Jesuit +priests, to one of whom, Father Andrew White, we owe a charming +account of the voyage. Baltimore, in his written instructions to his +brother, manifested his policy of toleration, by directing him to +allow no offence to be given to any Protestant on board, and to cause +Roman Catholics to be silent "upon all occasions of discourse +concerning matters of religion."[10] + +The expedition did not get away from England without trouble. The +attempt to divide the territory of Virginia was not popular, and +Catholics were looked upon as dangerous persons. The effort of the +emigrants to sail without subscribing the necessary oaths caused the +ships to be brought back by Admiral Pennington.[11] It was not until +November 22, 1633, that they got off, and the ships took the old route +to Virginia--by way of the West Indies. + +February 27, 1634, they reached Point Comfort, where the king's letter +addressed to Sir John Harvey insured them a kind reception. Here they +learned that the Indians of the Potomac were excited over a rumor that +they were Spaniards coming to subdue the country. After a stay of +eight or nine days for fresh provisions the emigrants set sail up +Chesapeake Bay and soon entered the Potomac River, "in comparison with +which the Thames seemed a rivulet." At its mouth they saw natives on +shore in arms, and at night their watch-fires blazed throughout the +country. + +March 25 the settlers landed on St. Clement's Island and erected a +cross. Then leaving the _Ark_ with most of the passengers, Governor +Calvert, with the _Dove_, and a pinnace bought at Point Comfort, +explored the river and made friends with the Indians. He found that +they all acknowledged the sovereignty of the "emperor of Piscataqua," +who, relieved of his apprehensions, gave them permission to settle in +the country. The final choice of a seating-place was due to Captain +Henry Fleet, a well-known member of the Virginia colony, who guided +them up St. George's River, about nine miles from its juncture with +the Potomac; and there, on its north bank, March 27, 1634, Leonard +Calvert laid out the city of St. Mary's.[12] + +Though we have little record of the early social and economic +conditions of the settlers, the colony appears to have been remarkably +free from the sufferings and calamities that befell the Virginians. +This exemption was probably due to the following causes: there was no +common stock, but the property was held in severalty; there was a +proper proportion of gentlemen and laborers, few of one class and many +of the other; Virginia was near at hand and provisions and cattle +could be easily secured; and they had immediate use of Indian-cleared +fields, because when they arrived at St. Mary's, the Yaocomocos, +harassed by the Susquehannas, were on the point of removing across the +Potomac to Virginia, and were glad to sell what they had ceased to +value. It seems, too, that Maryland was healthier than Virginia. + +Hence, the very first year they had an excellent crop of corn, and +sent a ship-load to New England to exchange for salt fish and other +provisions.[13] Imitating the example of the Virginians, they began +immediately to plant tobacco, which, as in Virginia, became the +currency and leading product. Its cultivation caused the importation +of a great number of servants, "divers of very good rank and +quality,"[14] who, after a service of four or five years, became +freemen. In the assembly of 1638 several of the servants in the first +emigration took their seats as burgesses. As the demand for houses and +casks for tobacco was great, a good many carpenters and coopers came +out at their own expense and received shares of land by way of +encouragement. + +A state of society developed similar in many respects to that in +Virginia. Baltimore, accustomed to the type of life in England, +expected the settlements in Maryland to grow into towns and cities; +and, under this impression, in January, 1638, he erected the +population on the south side of St. George's River into a "hundred," +and afterwards created other hundreds in other parts of the colony. +But the wealth of watercourses and the cultivation of tobacco caused +the population to scatter, and made society from the first distinctly +agricultural and rural. St. Mary's and St. George's Hundred, in +Maryland, shared the fate of Jamestown and Bermuda Hundred, in +Virginia, and no stimulus of legislation could make them grow. + +The application of the powers of the palatinate intensified these +conditions by creating an agricultural and landed aristocracy. There +was a council like that in Durham, whose members, appointed by the +lord proprietor, held all the great offices of state. + +Outside of the council the most important officer was the sheriff, +who, like the sheriff of Durham, executed the commands of the governor +and the courts, of which there were (in addition to the council) the +county court and the manorial courts, answering respectively to the +court of quarter-sessions and the courts baron and leet in Durham. As +for the manorial courts, feudal relicts transplanted to America, they +sprang from Lord Baltimore's attempt to build up an aristocracy like +that which attended upon the bishop in his palace in Durham. In his +"Conditions for Plantations," August 8, 1636, after providing +liberally for all who brought emigrants to the colony, he directed +that every one thousand acres or greater quantity so given to any +adventurer "should be erected into a manor with a court-baron and +court-leet to be from time to time held within every such manor +respectively." + +There were many grants of one thousand acres or more, and Maryland +"lords of the manor" became quite common. These "lords" were the +official heads of numerous tenants and leaseholders who were settled +on their large estates. Yet the manor, as a free-governing community, +was a stronghold of liberty. At the courts baron and leet the tenants +elected the minor officers, tried offences, and made by-laws for their +own government. Later, when negroes substituted white laborers, these +feudal manors changed to plantations worked by slaves instead of free +tenants.[15] + +Even great office-holders and a landed aristocracy were insufficient +to sustain the regal dignity to which Lord Baltimore aspired. +Apparently, his right of initiating legislation and dictating the +make-up of the assembly ought to have been sufficient. But political +and social equality sprang from the very conditions of life in the New +World; and despite the veneering of royalty, Maryland came soon to be +a government of the people. The struggle began in the assembly which +met in February, 1635, but not much is known of the proceedings of +this assembly beyond the fact that it assumed the initiative and drew +up a code to which Lord Baltimore refused his assent. + +Of subsequent assemblies the record is copious enough. Lord Baltimore +had the right under his charter to summon "all the freemen, or the +greater part of them, or their representatives," and thus for a long +time there was a curious jumble of anomalies, which rendered the +assembly peculiarly sensitive to governmental influence. The second +assembly met at St. Mary's, January 25, 1638, and consisted of the +governor and council, freemen specially summoned, freemen present of +their own volition, and proxies.[16] Governor Calvert submitted a code +of laws sent from Lord Baltimore, and it was rejected by a vote of +thirty-seven to fourteen; but twelve of the minority votes were in two +hands, the governor and Secretary Lewger, an illustration of the +danger of the proxy system. + +Not long after, in a letter August 21, 1638, the proprietor yielded by +authorizing Leonard in the future to consent to laws enacted by the +freemen, which assent should temporarily make them valid until his own +confirmation or rejection should be received. To the next assembly, +held February 25, 1639, Leonard Calvert, instead of summoning all the +freemen, issued writs to different hundreds for the election of +representatives. + +Among the laws which they enacted was one limiting seats in the +assembly to councillors, persons specially summoned by the +proprietor's writ, and burgesses elected by the people of the +different hundreds. This law controlled the make-up of the next four +assemblies (October, 1640, August, 1641, March and July, 1642). +Nevertheless, in September, 1642, Baltimore reverted to the old +practice. + +In 1649 Baltimore made another and last attempt for his initiative. He +sent over a learned and complicated code of sixteen laws which he +asked the assembly to adopt; but they rejected his work and sent him a +code of their own, begging him in their letter not to send them any +more such "bodies of laws, which served to little end than to fill our +heads with jealousies and suspicions of that which we verily +understand not." The next year, 1650, a constitutional system was +perfected not very different from the plan adopted in the +mother-country and Virginia. The assembly was divided into two +chambers, the lower consisting exclusively of burgesses representing +the different hundreds, and the upper of the councillors and those +specially summoned by the governor.[17] + +[Footnote 1: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, II., 841.] + +[Footnote 2: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 83, 93, 100.] + +[Footnote 3: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 104; _Md. +Archives_, III., 17.] + +[Footnote 4: _Md. Archives_, III., 19.] + +[Footnote 5: Heath's grant, in _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1674, +p. 70.] + +[Footnote 6: Neill, _Founders of Maryland_, 46, 47.] + +[Footnote 7: Neill, _Terra Mariae_, 53; Ogilby, _America_, 183.] + +[Footnote 8: _Md. Archives_, III., 21.] + +[Footnote 9: Fiske, _Old Virginia and Her Neighbors_; Bassett, +_Constitutional Beginnings of North Carolina_; Lapsley, _County +Palatinate of Durham_.] + +[Footnote 10: _Calvert Papers_ (Md. Hist. Soc., _Fund Publications_, +No. 28), p. 132.] + +[Footnote 11: _Md. Archives_, III., 23.] + +[Footnote 12: White, _Relation_ (Force, _Tracts_, IV., No. xii.); +letter of Leonard Calvert, _Calvert Papers_ (Md. Hist. Soc., _Fund +Publications_, No. 35), pp. 32-35; Baltimore, _Relation_ (London, +1635).] + +[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 166.] + +[Footnote 14: Neill, _Founders of Maryland_, 80.] + +[Footnote 15: Johnson, _Old Maryland Manors (Johns Hopkins University +Studies_, I., No. iii.).] + +[Footnote 16: _Md. Archives_, I., 1-24.] + +[Footnote 17: _Md. Archives_, I., 32, 74, 243, 272.] + +[Illustration: MARYLAND IN 1652] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CONTENTIONS IN MARYLAND + +(1633-1652) + + +The delay in the constitutional adjustment of Maryland, while mainly +attributable to the proprietors, was partially due to the prolonged +struggle with Virginia, which for years absorbed nearly all the +energies of the infant community. The decision of the Commissioners +for Foreign Plantations in July, 1633, disallowing the Virginia claim +to unoccupied lands, was construed by the Virginians to mean that the +king at any rate intended to respect actual possession. Now, prior to +the Maryland charter, colonization in Virginia was stretching +northward. In 1630, Chiskiack, on the York River, was settled; and in +August, 1631, Claiborne planted a hundred men on Kent Island, one +hundred and fifty miles from Jamestown.[1] + +Though established under a license from the king for trade, Kent +Island had all the appearance of a permanent settlement. Its +inhabitants were never at any time as badly off as the settlers in the +early days at Jamestown and Plymouth, and the island itself was +stocked with cattle and had orchards and gardens, fields of tobacco, +windmills for grinding corn, and women resident upon it. Had it, +however, been only a trading-post, the extension over it of the laws +of Virginia made the settlement a legal occupation. And we are told of +Kent that warrants from Jamestown were directed there. "One man was +brought down and tried in Virginia for felony, and many were arrested +for debt and returned to appeare at James City."[2] In February, 1632, +Kent Island and Chiskiack were represented at Jamestown by a common +delegate, Captain Nicholas Martian.[3] The political existence of the +whole Virginia colony, and its right to take up and settle lands, the +king expressly recognized. + +Accordingly, when Leonard Calvert, on his arrival at Point Comfort in +February, 1634, called upon Claiborne to recognize Baltimore's +paramount sovereignty over Kent Island, because of its lying within +the limits of his charter, the council of Virginia, at the request of +Claiborne, considered the claim, and declared that the colony had as +much right to Kent Island as to "any other part of the country given +by his majesty's patent" in 1609.[4] After this, acquiescence in +Baltimore's wishes would have been treason, and Claiborne declined to +acknowledge Lord Baltimore's authority in Kent Island, and continued +to trade in the bay as freely as formerly. + +Calvert's instructions[5] had been, in case of such a refusal, not to +molest Claiborne for at least a year. But Captain Fleet, Claiborne's +rival in the fur trade, started a story that Claiborne was the +originator of the rumor which so greatly alarmed the Indians at the +time of the arrival of the emigrants at St. Mary's. Though Claiborne +promptly repelled the calumny, Baltimore, in September, 1634, sent an +order to his brother Leonard to seize Kent Island, arrest Claiborne, +and hold him prisoner.[6] As this mandate was contrary to the order in +July, 1633, of the lords commissioners, which enjoined the parties to +preserve "good correspondence one with another," Claiborne's partners +petitioned the king against it. + +Thereupon the king, by an order[7] dated October 8, 1634, peremptorily +warned Lord Baltimore, or his agents, "not to interrupt the people of +Kent Island in their fur trade or plantation." Nevertheless, April 5, +1635, Thomas Cornwallis, one of the Maryland councillors, confiscated +a pinnace of Claiborne's for illegal trading, and this act brought on +a miniature war in which several persons on both sides were killed.[8] +Great excitement prevailed in both colonies, and in Virginia the +people arrested Harvey, their governor, who upheld Cornwallis's +conduct, and shipped him off to England; while two of the councillors +were sent to Maryland to protest against the violent proceedings +affecting Claiborne.[9] + +These measures induced a truce, and for nearly three years there were +no further hostilities in the bay. Claiborne brought his case before +the king, who referred it to the Lords Commissioners for Plantations; +then, as his partners feared to take further risk, he carried on the +trade in the bay almost solely with his own servants and resources. In +December, 1636, these partners, becoming dissatisfied at their loss of +profit, made the capital mistake of sending, as their agent to Kent +Island, George Evelin, who pretended at first to be an ardent +supporter of Claiborne, but presently, under a power of attorney, +claimed control over all the partnership stock. + +Claiborne, naturally indignant and not suspecting any danger, sailed +for England in May, 1637, to settle accounts with his partners, having +just previously established another settlement on Palmer's Island at +the mouth of the Susquehanna River, believed by him to be north of the +Maryland patent. After he was gone, Evelin tried to persuade the +inhabitants to disown Claiborne and submit to Lord Baltimore; and when +they declined he urged Governor Calvert to attempt the reduction of +the island by force. After some hesitation the latter consented, and +while the assembly was sitting at St. Mary's, in February, 1638, +Calvert made a landing at night with thirty men, and, taking the +inhabitants by surprise, succeeded in reducing the island to +submission.[10] + +Calvert's after-conduct reflects little credit upon his reputation for +leniency. In March, 1638, he caused Claiborne to be attainted by the +assembly as a rebel and his property confiscated, and Thomas Smith, +who commanded one of Claiborne's pinnaces in the battles three years +before, was tried and hanged for murder and piracy.[11] In England, in +the mean time, Claiborne and Baltimore were contending zealously for +the favor of the king. Both had powerful interests behind them, but +Baltimore's were the stronger. At last the Commissioners for Foreign +Plantations rendered a report (April 4, 1638), giving Kent Island and +the right of trade in the bay wholly to Lord Baltimore, leaving all +personal wrongs to be redressed by the courts. + +The question of title at least seemed settled, and in October, 1638, +Sir John Harvey, now restored as governor of Virginia, issued a +proclamation recognizing the validity of the decision. Claiborne +submitted, and, being left to "the course of the law," empowered +George Scovell to recover, if possible, some of the confiscated +property in Maryland; but Scovell was told that the law-courts of +Maryland were closed against such a rebel as Claiborne.[12] The +justice of the English decision depends on the impartiality of the +board which made it, and of any board with Bishop Laud at the head +only partisanship could be expected. + +While these turbulent proceedings were going on, the Jesuit priests +introduced into the colony by Lord Baltimore were performing a work of +peace and love. They visited the Indian tribes and made many Christian +converts. Tayac, chief of the Piscataquas, received baptism, and his +example was followed by the chiefs and inhabitants of Port Tobacco. +The main trouble came from the Nanticokes on the eastern shore, and +the fierce Susquehannas to the north of the settlements, and at +different times armed expeditions were sent out against them; but +there was nothing like a war. + +For sixteen years the only clergy in the colony were priests, who were +so zealous in their propaganda that nearly all the Protestants who +came in 1638 were converted to Catholicism and many later conversions +were made.[13] Nevertheless, the Catholic governor and council acted +up to the spirit of the instructions given by Baltimore to his brother +on the sailing of the first emigrants from the port of London, and +would permit no language tending to insult or breach of peace. Not +long after the arrival at St. Mary's a proclamation to this end was +issued, of which only two violations appear in the records; in both +cases the offenders were Roman Catholics, and they were arrested and +promptly punished.[14] + +Baltimore would not even exempt the Jesuit priests in Maryland from +the ordinary laws as to lands and taxes, and by the "Conditions of +Plantations," published in 1648, he prohibited any society, temporal +or spiritual, from taking up land.[15] In 1643 his liberality carried +him so far as to induce him to extend, through Major Edward Gibbons, +an invitation to the Puritans of Massachusetts to emigrate to +Maryland, with a full assurance of "free liberty of religion"; but +Winthrop grimly writes, "None of our people had temptation that +way."[16] + +In the year of this invitation the possibility of a new shuffle of the +political cards occurred through the breaking out of the war so long +brewing in England between the king and Parliament. The struggle of +party made itself strongly felt in Maryland, where, among the +Protestants, sympathy with Parliament was supplemented by hatred of +Catholics. In 1643, Governor Leonard Calvert repaired to England, +where he received letters of marque from the king at Oxford +commissioning him to seize ships belonging to Parliament. Accordingly, +when, three months later, in January, 1644, Captain Richard Ingle +arrived in his ship at St. Mary's and uttered some blatant words +against the king, he was arrested by Acting Governor Brent, for +treason. The charges were dismissed by the grand jury as unfounded, +but Brent treated Ingle harshly, and fined and exiled Thomas +Cornwallis for assisting the captain in escaping.[17] + +In September, 1644, when Calvert returned to Maryland, there were +strong symptoms of revolt, which came to a head when Ingle came back +to St. Mary's with a commission from Parliament in February, 1645. +Chaotic times ensued, during which Catholics were made victims of the +cruel prejudices of the Protestants. The two Jesuit priests, Father +Andrew White and Father Philip Fisher, were arrested, loaded with +irons,[18] and sent prisoners into England, while Leonard Calvert +himself was driven from Maryland into Virginia.[19] + +During these tumults so many persons went over from Virginia to +Maryland that the Virginia assembly sent Captain Edward Hill and +Captain Thomas Willoughby to compel the return of the absentees,[20] +with curious result. As the province was without a governor, some of +the council of Maryland issued, in the name of the refugee Calvert, a +commission to Hill to act as governor of Maryland. The revolutionists +flattered themselves that a stable government under a Protestant +governor was now at hand. But the unexpected came to pass, when, in +December, 1646, Governor Calvert suddenly appeared with a strong body +of soldiers furnished by Sir William Berkeley and re-established his +authority by capturing both Hill and the Protestant assembly then +sitting at St. Mary's. + +These two years of civil war in Maryland are called the "plundering +time." Claiborne again appears, though there is no evidence that he +had any part in Ingle's spoliations.[21] He did visit Kent Island +about Christmas, 1645, and put Captain Brent, to whom Governor Calvert +had assigned his house and property, in a terrible fright. One year +later he visited the island a second time, when he offered to aid the +Kent Islanders in marching upon St. Mary's with a view of reinstating +Hill. When the men of Kent declined to take the risk, Claiborne +returned to Virginia, and Kent Island fell once more under the +government of Lord Baltimore.[22] On this visit Claiborne, instead of +posing as a friend of the Parliament, showed a commission and letter +from the king, by whom he appears to have stood till the king's death +in 1649. Charles I., in his turn, who deposed Lord Baltimore as a +"notorious parliamentarian," appointed Claiborne, in 1642, treasurer +of Virginia;[23] and Charles II. included his name among the list of +councillors in the commission issued by Sir William Berkeley in +1650.[24] + +While Maryland was thus convulsed with civil war an ordinance settling +the Maryland government in Protestant hands passed the House of Lords. +Before the Commons could concur, Lord Baltimore appeared and asked for +time to inquire into the charges. This was after the battle of Marston +Moor, and perhaps marks the moment when Lord Baltimore, conceiving the +king's cause desperate, began to trim his sails to the parliamentary +side. His request was granted, and Parliament, diverted from immediate +action, left Baltimore's authority unaffected for several years.[25] + +In this interval Baltimore busied himself in reorganizing his +government on a Protestant basis. Leonard Calvert died in June, 1647, +not long after his _coup d'etat_ at St. Mary's, and upon his deathbed +he appointed Thomas Greene, a Catholic and royalist, as his successor. +Lord Baltimore removed him and appointed in his stead a Protestant, +Captain William Stone, of Northampton County, Virginia, giving him a +Protestant secretary and a Protestant majority of councillors. Yet +Baltimore took care not to surrender the cardinal principle of his +government. Before Stone and his chief officers were allowed to take +office they were required to swear not to "molest any person in the +colony professing to believe in Jesus Christ for or in respect of his +or her religion, and in particular no Roman Catholic."[26] + +The famous Toleration Act of 1649 was passed at the first assembly +succeeding Stone's appointment. It was very probably in great part a +copy of a bill in the code of sixteen laws which Baltimore sent over +at this time, and it very nearly repeated the provisions of the oath +required of Governor Stone. While the terms of the act did not place +the right on that broad plane of universal principle stated later in +the Virginia Declaration of Rights, it proclaimed toleration, even if +it was a toleration of a very limited nature.[27] + +Stone had recommended himself to Calvert by promising to lead five +hundred persons of British or Irish descent[28] into Maryland; and +this engagement he was soon able to perform through the Puritans, +whose story of persecution in Virginia has been already related. The +new emigrants called the country where they settled "Providence," from +feelings akin to those which led Roger Williams to give that +comforting name to his settlement on Narragansett Bay. They were to +prove a thorn in Baltimore's flesh, but for the moment they seemed +tolerably submissive. In January, 1650, soon after their arrival, +Governor Stone called an assembly to meet at St. Mary's in April, and +to this assembly the colony at "Providence" sent two representatives, +one of whom was made speaker. + +Apprehension of William Claiborne was still felt, and the assembly, +though dominated by the new-comers, declared their readiness to resist +any attempts of his to seize Kent Island.[29] Only in one particular +at this time did they oppose Lord Baltimore's policy. The oath of +fidelity required them to acknowledge Lord Baltimore as "absolute +lord" and his jurisdiction as "royal jurisdiction."[30] The Puritans, +having scruples about these words, struck them out and inserted a +proviso that the oath "be not in any wise understood to infringe or +prejudice liberty of conscience."[31] About this time Charles II., +although a powerless exile, issued an order deposing Baltimore from +his government and appointing Sir William Davenant as his successor, +for the reason that Baltimore "did visibly adhere to the rebels in +England and admit all kinds of schismatics and sectaries and +ill-affected persons into the plantation."[32] + +Thus when Parliament soon after took up his case again, Lord Baltimore +came full-handed with proofs of loyalty to the commonwealth. His +enemies produced evidence that Charles II., in 1649, was proclaimed in +Maryland, but Baltimore showed that it was done without his authority +by Thomas Greene, who acted as governor a second time during a brief +absence of Captain Stone from Maryland. When they accused him of being +an enemy of Protestants he produced the proclamation of Charles II., +deposing him from the government on account of his adherence to them. +Finally, he exhibited a declaration in his behalf signed by many of +the Puritan emigrants from Virginia, among whom were William Durand, +their elder, and James Cox and Samuel Puddington, the two burgesses +from Providence in the assembly of 1650.[33] + +Nevertheless, Baltimore played a losing game. At heart the Puritans in +England were unfriendly to him because of his religion; and, when +persistent rumors reached Maryland that Baltimore's patent was doomed, +some of the men of Providence appeared in England and urged that it be +revoked.[34] At length, October 3, 1650, Parliament passed an +ordinance authorizing the Council of State to reduce to obedience +Barbadoes, Antigua, Bermudas, and "Virginia," the last being a term +which in England was often used to include Maryland. Baltimore +struggled hard to have Maryland left out of the instructions drawn up +afterwards by the Council of State; but though he was apparently +successful, a descriptive phrase including his province was inserted, +for the commissioners, Curtis, Claiborne, and Bennett, with an armed +fleet, were instructed "to use their best endeavors to reduce _all the +plantations within the Bay of Chesopiack_ to their due obedience to +the Parliament of England."[35] + +After the commissioners had reduced Virginia, they found even less +resistance in Maryland. The commissioners landed at St. Mary's, and, +professing their intention to respect the "just rights" of Lord +Baltimore, demanded that Stone should change the form of the writs +from the name of Lord Baltimore to that of Parliament. Stone at first +declined to comply, and the commissioners, March 29, 1652, put the +government into the hands of a council of leading Protestants. Stone +then reconsidered his action, and Claiborne and Bennett, returning to +St. Mary's, restored him to the government, June 28, 1652, in +conjunction with the councillors already appointed. The ascendency of +Claiborne seemed complete, but beyond renewing his property claim to +Kent and Palmer islands, he did not then further interfere.[36] + +Maryland consisted at this time of four counties: St. Mary's, erected +in 1634, Kent, 1642, and Charles and Anne Arundelin 1650, and +contained a population perhaps of eight thousand. The settlements +reached on both sides of the bay, from the Potomac to the Susquehanna. +Society was distinctly democratic, for while there were favored +families there was no privileged class, and the existence of African +slavery and the temporary servitude of convicts and redemptioners +tended to place all freemen on an equality. As there was no state +church, educational opportunities in the province were small, but it +was a land of plenty and hospitality, and charity in religion made the +execution of the criminal law singularly mild. In spite of turmoils +and dissensions, Maryland prospered and flourished. A home feeling +existed, and there were many even among the recent exiles from +Virginia who looked with hope to its future and spoke of it as "a +country in which I desire to spend the remnant of my days, in which I +covet to make my grave."[37] + +[Footnote 1: _Md. Archives_, III., 32.] + +[Footnote 2: _Md. Archives_, V., 158.] + +[Footnote 3: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 154. ] + +[Footnote 4: _Md. Archives_, III., 33. ] + +[Footnote 5: Browne, _George and Cecilius Calvert_, 49.] + +[Footnote 6: _Md. Archives_, V., 164-168.] + +[Footnote 7: Ibid., III., 29.] + +[Footnote 8: Neill, _Founders of Maryland_, 51.] + +[Footnote 9: _Md. Archives_ III., 37.] + +[Footnote 10: Browne, _George and Cecilius Calvert_, 69.] + +[Footnote 11: _Md. Archives_, V., 187.] + +[Footnote 12: _Md. Archives_, III., 42-93.] + +[Footnote 13: White, _Relation_ (Force, _Tracts_, IV., No. xii.).] + +[Footnote 14: _Md. Archives_, I., 119, IV., 38.] + +[Footnote 15: _Calvert Papers_ (Md. Hist. Soc., _Fund Publications_, +No. 35), 166, 216, 217; _Md. Archives_, III., 227.] + +[Footnote 16: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 179.] + +[Footnote 17: _Md. Archives_, IV., 246-249.] + +[Footnote 18: Neill, _Founders of Maryland_, 75; _Md. Archives_, III., +165, 177.] + +[Footnote 19: Bozman, _Maryland_, II., 293.] + +[Footnote 20: Hening, _Statutes_, I., 321.] + +[Footnote 21: Bozman, _Maryland_, II., 296.] + +[Footnote 22: _Md. Archives_, IV., 281, 435, 458, 459.] + +[Footnote 23: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 493.] + +[Footnote 24: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 340.] + +[Footnote 25: _Md. Archives_, III., 164, 180, 187.] + +[Footnote 26: _Md. Archives_, III., 211, 214.] + +[Footnote 27: Ibid., I., 244-247.] + +[Footnote 28: Ibid., III., 201.] + +[Footnote 29: _Md. Archives_, I., 261, 287.] + +[Footnote 30: Ibid., III., 196.] + +[Footnote 31: Ibid., I., 305.] + +[Footnote 32: Neill, _Terra Mariae_, 88.] + +[Footnote 33: Bozman, _Maryland_, II., 672.] + +[Footnote 34: _Md. Archives_, III., 259.] + +[Footnote 35: _Md. Archives_, III., 265.] + +[Footnote 36: Ibid., 271-277.] + +[Footnote 37: Hammond, _Leah and Rachel_ (Force, _Tracts_, III., No. +xiv.).] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FOUNDING OF PLYMOUTH + +(1608-1630) + + +After the disastrous failure of the Popham colony in 1608 the Plymouth +Company for several years was inactive. Its members were lacking in +enthusiastic co-operation, and therefore did not attract, like the +London Company, the money and energy of the nation. After Sir John +Popham's death, in 1607, his son Francis Popham was chiefly +instrumental in sending out several vessels, which, though despatched +for trade, served to keep up interest in the northern shores of +America. + +That coast threatened to be lost to Englishmen, for the French, in +1603, began to make settlements in Nova Scotia and in Mount Desert +Island, near the mouth of the Penobscot, while their ships sailed +southward along the New England shores. The Dutch, too, explored the +Hudson (1609) and prepared the way for a colony there. It was, +therefore, a great service to England when Captain Argall, under the +authority of Sir Thomas Dale, in 1613, dislodged the French at Mount +Desert, Port Royal, and St. Croix. + +Shortly after Argall's visit John Smith sailed, in 1614, for the +northern coast, with two ships fitted out by some private adventurers. +While the ships were taking a freight of fish, Smith, with a view to +colonization, ranged the neighboring coast, collecting furs from the +natives, taking notes of the shores and the islands, and making +soundings of the water. Smith drew a map of the country, and was the +first to call it "New England" instead of North Virginia, Norumbega, +or Canada. This map he submitted to Prince Charles, who gave names to +some thirty points on the coast. Only Plymouth, Charles River, and +Cape Ann have permanently kept the names thus fastened upon them. +Boston, Hull, Cambridge, and some others were subsequently adopted, +but applied to localities different from those to which Prince Charles +affixed them. + +While he was absent one day Thomas Hunt, master of one of his vessels, +kidnapped twenty-four savages, and, setting sail, carried them to +Spain, where he sold most of them. The outrage soured the Indians in +New England, but of the captives, one, named Squanto or Tisquantum, +was carried to England, and his later friendliness worked to the +benefit of subsequent English colonization.[1] + +In 1615 Captain Smith entered into the service of the Plymouth Company +and was complimented with the title of "Admiral of New England." With +great difficulty they provided two ships and despatched them to effect +a settlement, but the result was the old story of misfortune. The ship +in which Smith sailed was captured by the French, and Smith himself +was detained in captivity for some time. Captain Dormer, with the +other vessel, proceeded on his voyage to New England, but did not +attempt anything beyond securing a cargo of furs. + +Smith tried to stir up interest in another expedition, and travelled +about England in 1616, distributing his maps and other writings, but +he says "all availed no more than to hew rocks with oyster-shells." +Smith's connection with the American coast then ceased altogether; but +his plans of colonization were not without fruit, since his literary +works, making known the advantages of New England, kept the attention +of the public fastened upon that region.[2] + +At this time the most prominent member of the Plymouth Company was Sir +Ferdinando Gorges, son of Edward Gorges, of Worcestershire, born about +1566. He served at Sluys in 1587, was knighted by Essex before Rouen, +in October, 1591, and in 1593 was made governor of the port of +Plymouth in England, which office he still held. Despite the +ill-fortune attending past efforts, he continued to send out vessels +under color of fishing and trade, which ranged the coast of New +England and brought news of a calamity to the natives unexpectedly +favorable to future colonization. In 1616-1617 the country from +Penobscot River to Narragansett Bay was almost left "void of +inhabitants" by a pestilence which swept away entire villages of +Indians. This information, together with the better knowledge due to +Gorges of the value of the fisheries, caused a revival of interest +regarding New England among the members of the Plymouth Company.[3] + +Under the name of "the Council for New England," they obtained from +the king in 1620 a new charter,[4] granting to them all the territory +in North America extending "in breadth from forty degrees of northerly +latitude, from the equinoctial line, to forty-eight degrees of the +said northerly latitude, and in length by all the breadth aforesaid +throughout the main-land from sea to sea." In the new grant the number +of grantees was limited to forty, and all other persons enjoying +rights in the company's lands stood in the position of their tenants. +Thus, like the Plymouth Company, the new company proved defective in +co-operative power, and the first actual settlement of New England was +due to an influence little fancied by any of its members. + +Religious opinions during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were +great political forces. The Christian church of Europe, before the +days of Luther, held the view that the pope of Rome was the only +infallible interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, and against this +doctrine Luther led a revolt denominated Protestantism, which insisted +upon the right of private judgment. Nevertheless, when the reformed +churches came to adopt articles and canons of their own they generally +discarded this fundamental difference, and, affirming infallibility in +themselves, enlisted the civil power in support of their doctrines. + +Hence, in 1559, Queen Elizabeth caused her Parliament to pass two +famous statutes, the Act of Supremacy, which required all clergymen +and office-holders to renounce the spiritual as well as temporal +jurisdiction of all foreign princes and prelates; and the Act of +Uniformity, which forbade any minister from using any other liturgy or +service than that established by Parliament.[5] + +These acts, though directed originally against the Roman Catholics, +were resented by many zealous English clergymen who, during the reign +of Queen Mary, had taken refuge in Switzerland and Germany, and +learned while there the spiritual and political doctrines of John +Calvin. These English refugees were the first Puritans, and in the +beginning the large majority had no desire of separating from the +church of which the sovereign was the head, but thought to reform it +from within, according to their own views of ecclesiastical policy. +They wanted, among other things, to discard the surplice and Book of +Common Prayer and to abolish the order of bishops. Queen Elizabeth +looked upon their opinions as dangerous, and harassed them before the +Court of High Commission, created in 1583 for enforcing the acts of +supremacy and uniformity. But her persecution increased rather than +diminished the opposition, and finally there arose a sect called +Independents, who flatly denied the ecclesiastical supremacy of the +queen and claimed the right to set up separate churches of their own. +The Scotch Calvinists worked out an elaborate form of Presbyterian +government, by synods and assemblies, which later played a great part +in England. + +For a long time the "Separatists," as they were called, were as +unpopular with the great body of Puritans as with the churchmen. +Popular aversion was expressed by the derisive name of "Brownists," +given them from Robert Browne, the first to set forth their doctrines +in a formal pamphlet, entitled _The Life and Manners of True +Christians_. Their meetings were broken up by mobs, and worshippers +were subjected to insults.[6] + +Holland at that time was the only country enlightened enough to open +its doors to all religions professing Jesus Christ; and as early as +1593 a Separatist congregation, which had come into existence at +London, took refuge at Amsterdam, and they were followed by many other +persons persecuted under the laws of Queen Elizabeth. When she died, +in 1603, there were hopes at first of a milder policy from King James, +but they were speedily dispelled, and at a conference of Puritans and +High Churchmen at Hampton Court in 1604 the king warned dissenters, "I +will make them conform or I will harry them out of this land, or else +worse"; and he was as good as his word.[7] + +Several congregations of Separatists were located in the northeastern +part of England, in some towns and villages in Nottinghamshire, +Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire. One held meetings, under Rev. John Smith, +a Cambridge graduate, at Gainsborough, and another, under Richard +Clifton as pastor and John Robinson as teacher, at the small village +of Scrooby. Persecuted by the king's officers, these congregations +began to consider the advisability of joining their brethren in +Holland. That of Gainsborough was the first to emigrate, and, +following the example of the London church, it settled at Amsterdam. + +In the second, or Scrooby, congregation, destined to furnish the +"Pilgrim Fathers" of New England,[8] three men were conspicuous as +leaders. The first was John Robinson, a man, according to the +testimony of an opponent, of "excellent parts, and the most learned, +polished, and modest spirit" that ever separated from the church of +England. The second was the elder, William Brewster, like Robinson, +educated at Cambridge, who had served as one of the under-secretaries +of state for many years. After the downfall of his patron, Secretary +Davison, he accepted the position of postmaster and went to live at +Scrooby in an old manor house of Sir Samuel Sandys, the elder brother +of Sir Edwin Sandys, where, in the great hall, the Separatists held +their meetings.[9] The third character was William Bradford, born at +Austerfield, a village neighboring to Scrooby, and at the time of the +flight from England seventeen years of age, afterwards noted for his +ability and loftiness of character. + +In 1607 the Scrooby congregation made their first attempt to escape +into Holland. A large party of them hired a ship at Boston, in +Lincolnshire, but the captain betrayed them to the officers of the +law, who rifled them of their money and goods and confined them for +about a month in jail. The next year another party made an attempt to +leave. The captain, who was a Dutchman, started to take the men +aboard, but after the first boat-load he saw a party of soldiers +approaching, and, "swearing his countries oath Sacramente, and having +the wind faire, weighed anchor, hoysted sayles & away." The little +band was thus miserably separated, and men and women suffered many +misfortunes; but in the end, by one means or another, all made good +their escape from England and met together in the city of Amsterdam. + +They found there both the church of the London Separatists and that of +the Gainsborough people stirred up over theological questions, which +bid fair to tear them to pieces. Hence, Robinson determined to remove +his flock, and in May, 1609, they made the city of Leyden, twenty +miles distant, their permanent abode. Their pastor, Richard Clifton, +remained in Amsterdam, and the care of the congregation in their new +home was confided to John Robinson and William Brewster.[10] + +In Leyden the Pilgrims were compelled to adapt themselves, as they had +in Amsterdam, to conditions of life very different from those to which +they had been trained in their own country. As far as they can be +traced, a majority seem to have found employment in the manufacture of +woollen goods, for which the city was famous. Their uprightness, +diligence, and sobriety gave them a good name and pecuniary credit +with their Dutch neighbors, who testified twelve years later that in +all their stay in Holland "we never had any suit or accusation against +any of them."[11] + +To Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford the change was a decided gain. As +the site of a great university, Leyden furnished them intercourse with +learned men and access to valuable libraries. Robinson was admitted a +member of the university, and before long appeared as a disputant on +the Calvinist side in the public discussions. Brewster taught the +English language to the Dutch, and, opening a publishing house, +printed many theological books. Bradford devoted himself to the study +of the ancient languages, "to see with his own eyes the ancient +oracles of God in all their native beauty."[12] + +Their stay at Leyden covered the period of the famous twelve years' +truce between Spain and Holland, and their number increased from one +hundred to three hundred. Among the new-comers from England were John +Carver, Robert Cushman, Miles Standish, and Edward Winslow. Towards +the end of the period the exiles began to think of a second +emigration, and this time it was not persecution that suggested the +thought. In expectation of the renewal of hostilities with Spain, the +streets of Leyden sounded with the beating of drums and preparations +of war. Although Holland afforded them religious freedom, they won +their subsistence at the price of unremitting toil, which might be +made even harder by renewal of hostilities. A more sentimental reason +was found in the desire to perpetuate their existence as a religious +body of Englishmen. + +By the summer of 1617 the majority of the Scrooby congregation had +fully decided to emigrate, and it only remained to determine the new +place of residence. Some talked of Guiana, others of New York, but the +majority inclined to Virginia; and the conclusion was to emigrate as a +distinct body to a place under the London Company, but not so near +Jamestown as to be troubled by the Episcopalian planters there. + +With this design they sent two of their number, John Carver and Robert +Cushman, to London, and Sir Edwin Sandys tried to obtain for them a +patent recognizing their religious rights. To aid him, Robinson and +Brewster drew up a confession of faith which, as it contains an +admission of the right of the state to control religion, seems +strangely at variance with the doctrines of the Separatists. But the +king was not easily persuaded, and he promised only that "he would +connive at them and not molest them, provided they carried themselves +peaceably."[13] + +Sandys passed through the London Company two "particular patents" in +their behalf, one taken out in the name of John Wincop and the other +in that of John Pierce, two of their associates in England; under the +latter, granted in February, 1620, the Pilgrims prepared to leave +Holland.[14] Capital to the amount of L7000 was furnished by seventy +merchant adventurers in London, and it was agreed with them that for +several years everything was to be held in joint stock, the shares of +which were to be valued at L10 each and to be paid for in money or by +personal service.[15] + +As they had not resources for all to go, the major part of the +congregation, with Robinson, stayed behind, promising to follow later. +The emigrants under Carver, Bradford, and Brewster started out from +Delft-Haven in July, 1620, in the leaky ship the _Speedwell_. At +Southampton, in England, they met the _Mayflower_ with friends from +London, and soon after both ships made an attempt to start to sea. +They had not sailed any distance before the _Speedwell_ let in so much +water that it was necessary to put in at Dartmouth for repairs. Again +they set sail, and this time they had left old England one hundred +leagues behind when the captain reported the _Speedwell_ in danger of +foundering. There was nothing to do but to bear up again and return to +England, where they put in at Plymouth. Upon examination the +_Speedwell_ was pronounced unseaworthy and sent to London with about +twenty of the company. With the rest, one hundred and two in number, +the _Mayflower_ cleared the port, September 6, for America. + +Her destination was some point south of the Hudson River, within the +Virginia patent; but foul weather prevented any accurate calculation, +and November 9, 1620, the emigrants found themselves in the +neighborhood of Cape Cod. They tacked and sailed southward, but ran +into "dangerous shoals and roaring breakers," which compelled them to +turn back and seek shelter in the harbor now called Provincetown. The +anxiety of the sailors to be rid of the emigrants prevented any +further attempt southward, and forced them to make their permanent +habitation near this accidental lodgment. + +As the patent under which they sailed had no force in the territory of +the Plymouth Company, they united themselves by the so-called +"Mayflower compact," November 11, 1620, into a "civill body politic," +and promised "submission and obedience to all such ordinances as the +general good of the colony might require from time to time." Under the +patent John Carver had been chosen governor, and he was now confirmed +in that office under the new authority, which followed pretty nearly +the terms of the old.[16] + +For five weeks they stayed in the ship, while Captain Miles Standish +with a small company explored the country. In the third expedition, +after an attack from the Indians and much suffering from snow and +sleet, Standish's men reached a landing nearly opposite to the point +of Cape Cod, which they sounded and "found fit for shipping." There +"divers cornfields" and an excellent stream of fresh water encouraged +settlement, and they landed, December 11 (Old Style), 1620, near a +large bowlder, since known as Plymouth Rock. + +By the end of the week the Mayflower had brought over her company of +emigrants--seventy-three males and twenty-nine females--and December +25, 1620, they began to erect the first house "for the common use to +receive them and their goods." The Indian name of the place was +Patuxet, but the emigrants called it New Plymouth "after Plymouth, in +old England, the last town they left in their native country";[17] and +it was a curious coincidence that the spot had already received from +John Smith the name of Plymouth. Later the town was called simply +Plymouth, while the colony took the name of New Plymouth. + +[Footnote 1: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 699; Bradford, _Plimoth +Plantation_, 117.] + +[Footnote 2: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 699-701, 731-742, 745.] + +[Footnote 3: Gorges, _Description of New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 3d series, VI.), 57.] + +[Footnote 4: Poore, _Charters and Constitutions_, I., 921. ] + +[Footnote 5: Cf. Cheyney, _European Background of Am. Hist._, chap. +xi.] + +[Footnote 6: Neal, _Puritans_, I., 149-151, 202; cf. Cheyney, +_European Background of Am. Hist._, chap. xii.] + +[Footnote 7: Neal, _Puritans_, I., 232; Hart, _Source-Book_, No. 15.] + +[Footnote 8: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 13.] + +[Footnote 9: Hunter, _Founders of New Plymouth_.] + +[Footnote 10: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 15-29.] + +[Footnote 11: Ibid., 27.] + +[Footnote 12: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 28, 488-493; Mather, +_Magnolia_, I., 113.] + +[Footnote 13: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 29-38.] + +[Footnote 14: Brown, _First Republic_, 424.] + +[Footnote 15: Smith, _Works_ (Arber's ed.), 783; Bradford, _Plimoth +Plantation_, 56-58.] + +[Footnote 16: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 90-110; Eggleston, +_Beginners of a Nation_, 184, note 4.] + +[Footnote 17: Morton, _New England's Memorial_, 56.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PLYMOUTH + +(1621-1643) + + +During the winter of 1620-1621 the emigrants suffered greatly from +scurvy and exposure. More than half the company perished, and the +seamen on the _Mayflower_ suffered as much.[1] With the appearance of +spring the mortality ceased, and a friendly intercourse with the +natives began. These Indians were the Pokanokets, whose number had +been very much thinned by the pestilence. After the first hostilities +directed against the exploring parties they avoided the whites, and +held a meeting in a dark and dismal swamp, where the medicine-men for +three days together tried vainly to subject the new-comers to the +spell of their conjurations. + +At last, in March, 1621, an Indian came boldly into camp, and, in +broken English, bade the strangers "welcome." It was found that his +name was Samoset, and that he came from Monhegan, an island distant +about a day's sail towards the east, where he had picked up a few +English words from the fishermen who frequented that region. In a +short time he returned, bringing Squanto, or Tisquantum, stolen by +Hunt seven years before, and restored to his country in 1620 by Sir +Ferdinando Gorges. Squanto, who could speak English, stated that +Massasoit was near at hand, and on invitation that chief appeared, and +soon a treaty of peace and friendship was concluded; after which +Massasoit returned to his town of Sowams, forty miles distant, while +Squanto continued with the colonists and made himself useful in many +ways.[2] + +In the beginning of April, 1621, the _Mayflower_ went back to England, +and the colonists planted corn in the fields once tilled by Indians +whom the pestilence had destroyed. While engaged in this work the +governor, John Carver, died, and his place was supplied by William +Bradford, with Isaac Allerton as assistant or councilman. During the +summer the settlers were very busy. They fitted up their cabins, +amassed a good supply of beaver, and harvested a fair crop of corn. In +the fall a ship arrived, bringing thirty-five new settlers poorly +provided. It also brought a patent, dated June 1, 1621, from the +Council for New England, made out to John Pierce, by whom the original +patent from the London Company had been obtained. The patent did not +define the territorial limits, but allowed one hundred acres for every +emigrant and fifteen hundred acres for public buildings, in the same +proportion of one hundred acres to every workman.[3] + +The ship tarried only fourteen days, and returned with a large cargo +of clapboard and beaver skins of the value of L500, which was, +however, captured on the way to England by a French cruiser. After the +departure the governor distributed the new-comers among the different +families, and because of the necessity of sharing with them, put +everybody on half allowance. The prospect for the winter was not +hopeful, for to the danger from starvation was added danger from the +Indians. + +West of the Pokanokets were the Narragansetts, a tribe of two thousand +warriors, whose chief, Canonicus, sent to Plymouth in January, 1622, a +bundle of arrows tied with a snake's skin, signifying a challenge of +war. Bradford knew that it was fatal to hesitate or show fear, and he +promptly stuffed the snake's skin with bullets and returned it to the +sender with some threatening words. This answer alarmed Canonicus, who +thought that the snake's skin must be conjured, and he did not pursue +the matter further. But the colonists took warning, and the whole +settlement was enclosed with a paling, and strict military watch was +maintained. Thus the winter passed and the spring came, but without +the hoped-for assistance from the merchant partners in England.[4] + +On the contrary, the arrival in May, 1622, "without a bite of bread," +of sixty-seven other persons, sent out on his own account under a +grant from the Council for New England, by Thomas Weston, one of the +partners, plunged them into dire distress, from which they were +happily saved by a ship-captain, John Huddleston, from the colony on +James River, who shared his supplies with them, and thus enabled them +to "make shift till corn was ripe again." Weston's emigrants were a +loose set, and before they left in August they stole most of the green +corn, and thus Plymouth was threatened with another famine. +Fortunately, about this time another ship from Virginia, bearing the +secretary of state, John Pory, arrived, and sold the colonists a +supply of truck for trading; by which they bought from the Indians not +only corn, but beaver, which proved afterwards a source of much +profit. + +Weston's people removed to Wessagusset (modern Weymouth), on +Massachusetts Bay, where they conducted themselves in so reckless a +manner that they ran the double risk of starvation and destruction +from savages. To save them, Bradford, in March, 1623, despatched a +company under Captain Miles Standish, who brought them corn and killed +several of the Indians. Then Standish helped Weston's "rude fellows" +aboard ship and saw them safely off to sea. Shortly after Weston came +over to look after his emigrants, fell into the hands of the Indians, +escaped to Plymouth, where the colonists helped him away, and returned +in October, 1623, to create more disturbance. + +Weston was not the only one of the partners that gave the colonists +trouble. John Pierce took advantage of the prominence given him by the +patent issued in his name for the benefit of all, to get a new one +which made him sole actual owner of the territory. His partners +resented this injustice, and the Council for New England, in March, +1623, was induced to revoke the grant to Pierce.[5] + +About this time Bradford made a great change in the industrial system +of the colony. At Plymouth, as at Jamestown, communism was found to +breed "confusion and discontent," and he tried the experiment of +assigning to every family, in proportion to its size, a tract of land. +In July, 1623, arrived sixty other settlers, and the old planters +feared another period of starvation. Nevertheless, when harvest-time +arrived, the wisdom of Bradford's appeal to private interest was +demonstrated, for instead of misery and scarcity there was joyfulness, +and "plentie of corn." Later experience was equally convincing, for, +as Bradford wrote many years after, "any general wante or famine hath +not been known amongst them since to this day." + +While the Pilgrim fathers were overcoming their difficulties in +Massachusetts, the Council for New England were struggling with the +London Company to maintain the monopoly of fishing and fur trading on +the North Atlantic coast granted to them by their charter. The London +Company complained to the king in 1620 and to Parliament in 1621, but +the king refused any relief, and prevented Parliament from interfering +by dissolving it.[6] Thereupon, the Council for New England, +appreciating the danger, made a grand effort to accomplish something +in America. As a preliminary step they induced the king to publish a +proclamation, November 6, 1622, against all unlicensed trading and +other infringements upon the rights granted them,[7] and shortly +afterwards sent out Francis West as admiral to reduce the fishermen on +the coast to obedience. West came to America, but found them "stuberne +fellows,"[8] and he returned in about a year to England without +effecting anything. + +During his absence the Council for New England set to work to send out +a colony under Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando; and, June 29, +1623, a division was made among twenty patentees, of the North +Atlantic coast from the Bay of Fundy to Narragansett Bay.[9] In +September, 1623, Gorges arrived at Plymouth attended by an Episcopal +minister, William Morell, and a company of settlers, whom he planted +at Wessagusset. He remained in New England throughout the winter, and +in the effort to exert his authority had a long wrangle with Weston. +In the spring of 1624 he received news from his father that +discouraged his further stay. It seems that in March, 1624, a +committee of Parliament, at the head of which was Sir Edward Coke, had +reported the charter of the Council for New England as a national +grievance, which so discouraged the patentees that most of them +abandoned the enterprise, and it became, in the language of the elder +Gorges, "a carcass in a manner breathless."[10] After Robert Gorges' +departure most of his party dispersed, some going to England and some +to Virginia, but a few remained at Wessagusset, which was never +entirely abandoned. + +The relations between the colony and the London merchant adventurers, +never very pleasant, became more unsatisfactory as time went on. The +colonists naturally wanted to bring over their friends at Leyden, but +the partners regarded Robinson as the great leader of the +Independents, and London was already rife with rumors of the heretical +character of the rulers at Plymouth. It seemed to the partners +evidently for their interest to introduce settlers of a different +religious opinion from Bradford and Brewster, and to this was largely +due the fact that the emigrants who came over after the Mayflower's +return in 1621 had little in common with the original band of +Pilgrims. + +In January, 1624, arrived another miscellaneous cargo, including a +minister named John Lyford. Upon his arrival he professed intense +sympathy with the settlers, and when they received him as a member of +their church he renounced, pursuant to the extreme tenets of +Separatism, "all universall, nationall, and diocessan churches."[11] +Nevertheless, he joined with John Oldham, who came the year before, in +a conspiracy to overturn the government; but was detected and finally +banished from the colony. In March, 1625, Lyford and Oldham went to +Wessagusset, from which they moved with Roger Conant and other friends +to Nantasket, where, in the mean time, a new settlement had sprung up. + +In the division of 1623, the region around Cape Ann fell to Lord +Sheffield, and the same year he conveyed the country to Robert Cushman +and Edward Winslow in behalf of the colonists at Plymouth.[12] The +next year the new owners sent a party to establish a fishing stage at +Cape Ann, but they found other persons on the spot, for in 1623 some +merchants of Dorchester, England, who regularly sent vessels to catch +fish in the waters of New England, had conceived the idea of planting +a colony on the coast, and in the summer of that year landed fourteen +men at Cape Ann, soon increased to thirty-four. + +For some months the two parties got along amicably together and fished +side by side. An element of discord was introduced in 1625 when the +Dorchester men invited Roger Conant and Rev. Mr. Lyford from +Nantasket, and made the former manager and the latter minister of +their settlement; while John Oldham was asked to become their agent to +trade with the Indians. A short time after, the crew of a vessel +belonging to the Dorchester adventurers, instigated, it is said, by +Lyford, took from the Plymouth men their fishing stage; whereupon +Miles Standish came with soldiers from Plymouth, and the rival parties +would have come to blows had not Conant interfered and settled the +matter.[13] The Plymouth settlers built a new stage, but, as the war +with Spain affected the sale of fish, they soon abandoned the +enterprise altogether. The Dorchester men had no better fortune, and +the discouraged merchants at home, in 1626, broke up their colony and +sold their shipping and most of their other property.[14] Lyford went +to Virginia, where he soon died, and all the other settlers, except +Conant and three others, returned to England. + +The colony at Plymouth, in the mean time, was signally prospering, and +soon felt strong enough to dissolve the troublesome relations with the +merchant partners, who had fallen into dissensions among themselves. +For this purpose the colonists made, in 1627, an agreement by which +for L1800, to be paid in nine annual instalments of L200 each, the +colonists were relieved from all vassalage under their original +contract.[15] + +Custodians of their own fortunes, they now established trading-posts +at several places on the coast--at Manomet, on Buzzard's Bay (1627), +at Kennebec (1628), and at Penobscot and Machias Bay (1629). In +addition they made arrangements for reunion with their friends in +Holland, one party of whom arrived in 1629 and another in 1630, though +Robinson, the Moses of the Pilgrims, was never permitted to join them, +having died March 1, 1626,[16] in Leyden. + +They tried also to obtain a charter from the king, but they never +could get anything better than a fresh patent from the Council for New +England. This patent,[17] dated January 13, 1630, empowered Bradford +and his associates "to incorporate by some usual and fit name and +title him and themselves, or the people there inhabiting under him or +them, with liberty to them and their successors from time to time to +frame and make orders, ordinances, and constitutions" not contrary to +the laws of England or to any government established by the council. + +The patent had the merit of defining the extent of territory belonging +to the Plymouth settlers, and granted "all that part of New England in +America aforesaid and Tracte and Tractes of Land that lye within or +betweene a certaine Reuolett or Runlett there commonly called +Coahassett alias Conahassett towards the North and the Riuer commonly +called Narragansett Riuer towards the South and the great Westerne +Ocean towards the East, and betweene, and within a Streight Line +directly Extending up Into the Maine Land towards the west from the +mouth of the said Riuer called Narragansett Riuer to the utmost bounds +of a Country or place in New England Commonly called Pokenacutt als +Sowamsett, westward, and another like Streight line Extending it Self +Directly from the mouth of the said Riuer called Coahassett als +Conahassett towards the West so farr up into the Main Land Westwards +as the Vtmost Limitts of the said place or Country Commonly called +Pokenacutt als Sowamsett Do Extend togeather with one half of the s^d +Riuer called Narragansett and the s^d Reuolett or Runlett called +Coahassett als Conahassett and all Lands Riuers waters hauens Ports +Creeks ffihings fowlings and all hereditaments Proffitts Commodityes +and Imoluments Whatsoeuer Scituate Lyeing and being or ariseing within +or betweene the said Limitts or bounds or any of them." For trading +purposes the patent also gave them a tract extending fifteen miles in +breadth on each bank of the Kennebec. + +Among the "scattered beginnings" in the neighborhood of Plymouth, the +most interesting, because the most contrasted with the Puritan colony +at Plymouth, was Captain Wollaston's settlement, established in 1625 a +little north of Wessagusset. His men were, for the most part, +servants, and Wollaston finding, soon after his arrival, that they +could be used to better advantage in Virginia, transported some of +them to that colony. + +During his absence one Thomas Morton, a lawyer of Clifford's Inn, +asserted his authority, freed the rest of the settlers, and engaged in +a successful traffic with the Indians for beaver and other skins. This +circumstance was itself calculated to excite the jealousy of the +Plymouth settlers, but the ceremonies and customs at "Merry Mount," +which name Morton gave to the settlement in lieu of "Mount Wollaston," +caused them to regard him with even greater disgust. He instituted the +Episcopal service and planted a May-pole eighty feet high, around +which, for many days together, the settlers "frisked" hand-in-hand +with the Indian girls. + +As Morton was outside of the Plymouth jurisdiction, the colonists +there had no right to interfere except in self-defence. But the +Plymouth people asserted that Morton sold arms to the Indians and +received runaway servants. This made him dangerous, and all the other +"straggling settlements," though, like Morton's, of the church of +England, united with the people at Plymouth in suppressing Morton's +settlement. In June, 1628, a joint force under Captain Miles Standish +was sent against Merry Mount, and Morton was captured and shipped to +England in charge of John Oldham, who had made his peace with +Plymouth, and now took with him letters to the Council for New England +and to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in which Morton's offences were duly set +forth.[18] + +The settlements besides Plymouth which took part in the expedition +were Piscataqua (Portsmouth); Nantasket (now Hull), then the seat of +John Oldham; Naumkeag (now Salem); Winnisimmet (now Chelsea), where +Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Burslem lived; Cocheco, on the Piscataqua, where +Edward Hilton lived; Thompson's Island, where the widow of David +Thompson lived; and Shawmut (now Boston), where Rev. William +Blackstone lived. Besides the settlements, there were in the +neighborhood of Plymouth plantations of some solitary settlers whose +names do not appear in this transaction. Thomas Walford lived at +Mishawum (now Charlestown), and Samuel Maverick on Noddle's Island; +Wessagusset also had probably a few inhabitants. + +In 1627 De Rasieres, the secretary of state of the Dutch colony at New +Netherland, opened a correspondence with Governor Bradford and assured +him of his desire to cultivate friendly relations. Bradford gave a +kind reply, but questioned the right of the Dutch on the coast, and +invited Rasieres to a conference. He accepted the invitation, and in +1628 visited the Puritan settlement. A profitable exchange of +merchandise succeeded, and the Dutch taught the Plymouth men the value +of wampum in trading for furs, and sold them L50 worth of it. It was +found useful both as a currency and commodity, and afterwards the +settlers learned to make it from the shells on the sea-shore.[19] It +was not till five years later that this peaceful correspondence with +the Dutch was disturbed. + +Unfriendliness characterized, from the first, the relations with the +French. They claimed that Acadia extended as far south as Pemaquid, +and one day in 1631, when the manager of the Penobscot factory was +away, a French privateer appeared in port and landed its crew. In the +story, as told by Bradford, the levity of the French and the solemn +seriousness of the Puritans afford a delightful contrast. The +Frenchmen were profuse in "compliments" and "congees," but taking the +English at a disadvantage forced them to an unconditional surrender. +They stripped the factory of its goods, and as they sailed away bade +their victims tell the manager when he came back "that the Isle of Rhe +gentlemen had been there."[20] In 1633, after Razilly's appointment as +governor-general, De la Tour, one of his lieutenants, attacked and +drove away the Plymouth men at Machias Bay,[21] and in 1635 D'Aulnay, +another lieutenant, dispossessed the English at Penobscot. + +The Plymouth people, greatly incensed, sent two armed ships to punish +the French, but the expedition proved a failure. Then they appealed to +Massachusetts for help, but the great men of that colony, hoping, as +Bradford intimates, to arrange a trade with the French on their own +account, declined to be at any expense in the matter,[22] and so the +Penobscot remained in unfriendly hands for many years. + +This appeal to Massachusetts showed that another power had stepped to +the front in New England. After John Winthrop set up his government in +1630 on Massachusetts Bay the history of the Plymouth colony ceased to +be of first importance, and therefore the remaining events in her +annals need not take much space. In 1633 the people of Plymouth +established a fort on Connecticut River above the Dutch post, so as to +intercept the Indian trade, and in 1639 they renewed the ancient +league with Massasoit.[23] In 1640 they had a dispute with +Massachusetts over the boundary-line, which was arranged by a +compromise, and in 1641 William Bradford deeded to the freemen of the +corporation of New Plymouth the patent of 1630, granted by the Council +for New England to him as trustee for the colony.[24] Finally, in +1643, Plymouth became a member of the New England confederation. + +A survey of these twenty-three years (1620-1643) shows that during the +first eleven years the increase in population was very slow. In 1624 +there were one hundred and eighty settlers and in 1630 but three +hundred. The emigration to Massachusetts, beginning in 1629, brought +about a great change. It overflowed into Plymouth, and in twelve years +more the population had increased to three thousand.[25] The new +settlers were a miscellaneous set, composed for the most part of +"unruly servants" and dissipated young men, whose ill conduct caused +the old rulers like Bradford to question "whether after twenty years' +time the greater part be not grown worser."[26] Nevertheless, the +people increased their "outward estate," and as they scattered in +search of fertile land, Plymouth, "in which they lived compactly till +now, was left very thin and in a short time almost desolate." In 1632 +a separate church and town of the name of Duxbury was formed north of +Plymouth; and eleven years later the towns of the Plymouth colony were +ten in number: Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate, Taunton, Sandwich, +Yarmouth, Barnstable, Marshfield, Seeconck, or Rehoboth, and +Nausett.[27] + +At the first arrival the executive and judicial powers were exercised +by John Carver, without any authorized adviser. After his death, in +1621, the same powers were vested in William Bradford as governor and +Isaac Allerton as assistant.[28] In 1624 the number of assistants was +increased to five and in 1633 to seven, and the governor was given a +double voice.[29] The elective and legislative powers were vested in a +primary assembly of all the freemen, called the "General Court," held +at short intervals. One of these meetings was called the court of +elections, and at this were chosen the governor and other officers of +the colony for the ensuing year. + +As the number of settlements increased, it became inconvenient for +freemen to attend the general courts in person, and in 1638 the +representative system was definitely introduced. Plymouth was allowed +four delegates, and each of the other towns two, and they, with the +governor and his council of assistants, constituted the law-making +body of the colony. To be entitled to hold office or vote at the court +of elections, the person had to be "a freeman"; and to acquire this +character, he had to be specially chosen one of the company at one of +the general courts. Thus suffrage was regarded as a privilege and not +a right.[30] + +Although the first of the colonies to establish a Separatist church, +the Puritans of Plymouth did not make church-membership a condition of +citizenship; still, there can be no doubt that this restriction +practically prevailed at Plymouth, since up to 1643 only about two +hundred and thirty persons acquired the suffrage. In the general laws +of Plymouth, published in 1671, it was provided as a condition of +receiving the franchise that "the candidate should be of sober and +peaceable conversation, orthodox in the fundamentals of religion," +which was probably only a recognition of the custom of earlier +times.[31] The earliest New England code of statutes was that of +Plymouth, adopted in 1636. It was digested under fifty titles and +recognized seven capital offences, witchcraft being one.[32] + +In the Plymouth colony, as in other colonies of New England, the unit +of government was the town, and this town system was borrowed from +Massachusetts, where, as we shall see, the inhabitants of Dorchester +set the example, in 1633, of coming together for governmental +purposes. Entitled to take part in the town-meetings under the +Plymouth laws were all freemen and persons "admitted inhabitants" of a +town. They elected the deputies of the general court and the numerous +officers of the town, and had the authority to pass local ordinances +of nearly every description.[33] + +During the early days, except for the short time of Lyford's service, +Elder William Brewster was the spiritual guide for the people. For a +long time they kept the place of minister waiting for Robinson, but +when he died they secured, in 1628, the services of Mr. Rogers, who +proved to "be crazed in his brain" and had to be sent back the +following year. Then, in 1629, Mr. Ralph Smith was minister, and Roger +Williams assisted him. Smith was a man of small abilities, and after +enduring him for eight years they persuaded him to resign. After +Smith's resignation the office of minister at Plymouth was filled by +Rev. John Rayner.[34] + +The educational advantages of the Plymouth colony were meagre, and the +little learning that existed was picked up in the old English way by +home instruction. This deficiency was due to the stern conditions of a +farmer's life on Cape Cod Bay, where the soil was poor and the climate +severe, necessitating the constant labor of the whole family. + +Nevertheless, the Plymouth colony was always an example to its +neighbors for thrift, economy, and integrity, and it influenced to +industry by proving what might be done on a barren soil. Its chief +claim to historical importance rests, of course, on the fact that, as +the first successful colony on the New England coast, it was the cause +and beginning of the establishment of the other colonies of New +England, and the second step in founding the great republic of the +United States. + +[Footnote 1: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 112.] + +[Footnote 2: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 114-117.] + +[Footnote 3: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, II., +158-163.] + +[Footnote 4: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 130-133; Winslow, +"Relation," in Young, _Chronicles of the Pilgrims_, 280-284.] + +[Footnote 5: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 149-168; _Cal. of State +Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 40.] + +[Footnote 6: Gorges, _Description of New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 3d series, VI., 80).] + +[Footnote 7: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 33.] + +[Footnote 8: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 170.] + +[Footnote 9: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d. series, VII., +73-76.] + +[Footnote 10: Adams, _Three Episodes of Mass. Hist._, I., 152.] + +[Footnote 11: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 238.] + +[Footnote 12: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 222, 285.] + +[Footnote 13: Hubbard, _New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, +2d series, VI., 110).] + +[Footnote 14: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 237; _Planters' Plea_ +(Force, _Tracts_, II., No. iii.).] + +[Footnote 15: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 237-258.] + +[Footnote 16: Ibid., 248.] + +[Footnote 17: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 298.] + +[Footnote 18: Bradford, _Letter-Book_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 1st series, III., 63); _Plimoth Plantation_, 284-292.] + +[Footnote 19: Bradford, _Letter-Book_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 1st series, III., 53).] + +[Footnote 20: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 350.] + +[Footnote 21: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 139.] + +[Footnote 22: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 395-401.] + +[Footnote 23: _Plymouth Col. Records_, I., 133.] + +[Footnote 24: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 437-444.] + +[Footnote 25: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 223, II., 6; Hazard, _State +Papers_, I., 300.] + +[Footnote 26: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 459.] + +[Footnote 27: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 444.] + +[Footnote 28: Ibid., 122.] + +[Footnote 29: Ibid., 187.] + +[Footnote 30: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 8.] + +[Footnote 31: Ibid. In August, 1643, the number of males of military +age was 627.] + +[Footnote 32: Brigham, _Plymouth Charter and Laws_, 43, 244.] + +[Footnote 33: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 7; Howard, _Local +Constitutional History_, 50-99.] + +[Footnote 34: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 314, 418, 419.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +GENESIS OF MASSACHUSETTS + +(1628-1630) + + +The abandonment, in 1626, of their colony at Cape Ann by the +Dorchester adventurers, did not cause connection to be entirely +severed either in America or in England. In America, Conant and three +of the more industrious settlers remained, but as the fishery was +abandoned, they withdrew with the cattle from the exposed promontory +at Cape Ann to Naumkeag, afterwards Salem.[1] In England a few of the +adventurers, loath to give up entirely, sent over more cattle, and the +enterprise, suddenly attracting other support, rose to a greater +promise than had ever been anticipated.[2] + +Among those in England who did not lose hope was the Rev. John White, +of Dorchester, a merchant as well as a preacher, and his large figure +stands on the threshold of the great commonwealth of Massachusetts. +Thomas Fuller says that he had absolute command of two things not +easily controlled--"his own passions and the purses of his +parishioners." White wrote Conant and his associates to stick by the +work, and promised to obtain for them a patent and fully provide them +with means to carry on the fur trade. The matter was discussed in +Lincolnshire and London, and soon a powerful association came into +being and lent its help. + +Other men, some of whom are historic personages, began to take a +leading part, and there was at first no common religious purpose among +the new associates. The contemporary literature is curiously free from +any special appeal to Puritanic principles, and the arguments put +forward are much the same as those urged for the settlement of +Virginia. The work of planting a new colony was taken up +enthusiastically, and a patent, dated March 19, 1628, was obtained +from the Council for New England, conceding to six grantees, Sir Henry +Rosewell, Sir John Young, Thomas Southcot, John Humphrey, John +Endicott, and Simon Whitcombe, "all that Parte of New England in +America aforesaid, which lyes and extendes betweene a greate River +there comonlie called Monomack alias Merriemack, and a certen other +River there, called Charles River, being in the Bottome of a certayne +Bay there, comonlie called Massachusetts alias Mattachusetts, ... and +... lyeing within the Space of three English Myles on the South Parte +of the said Charles River, ... and also ... within the space of three +English Myles to the Northward of the said River called Monomack, ... +throughout the Mayne Landes there, from the Atlantick and Westerne Sea +and Ocean on the East Parte, to the South Sea on the West Parte." + +The patent also gave to the company "all Jurisdiccons, Rights, +Royalties, Liberties, Freedoms, Ymmunities, Priviledges, Franchises, +Preheminences, and Commodities, whatsoever, which they, the said +Council established at Plymouth, ... then had, ... within the saide +Landes and Premisses."[3] On account of the reckless manner in which +the Council for New England granted away its territory, the patent +conflicted with several others of an earlier date. In March, 1622, +they had granted to John Mason a patent for all the land between +Naumkeag and the Merrimac River. Then, in December, 1622, a part of +this territory having a front of ten miles "upon the northeast side of +Boston Bay," and extending thirty miles into the interior, was granted +to Captain Robert Gorges.[4] Next, at the division in June, 1623, the +part of New England about Boston Bay fell to Lord Sheffield, the earl +of Warwick, and Lord Edward Gorges, a cousin of Sir Ferdinando. The +rights under the first and last of these grants were surrendered in +1629,[5] but, according to Ferdinando Gorges, he, as one of the +council, only sanctioned the patent to Rosewell and his partners on +the understanding that the grant to his son should not be interfered +with; and the maintenance of this claim was the occasion of dispute +for some years.[6] + +June 20, 1628, the new company sent out a party of emigrants under +John Endicott, who arrived, September 6, at Naumkeag, where, with the +number already on Boston Bay at their coming, they made about fifty or +sixty persons. He found the remains of Conant's company disposed to +question the claims of the new-comers, but the dispute was amicably +arranged, and in commemoration Naumkeag was given the name of Salem, +the Hebrew word for "Peaceful."[7] + +For nearly a year little is known of the settlers except that in the +winter some died of the scurvy and others of an "infectious fever."[8] +Endicott wrote to Plymouth for medical assistance, and Bradford sent +Dr. Samuel Fuller, whose services were thankfully acknowledged. One +transaction which has come down to us shows that Endicott's government +early marked out the lines on which the Massachusetts colony travelled +for many years afterwards. Endicott made it evident that he would make +no compromise with any of the "ungodly" in Massachusetts. Morton's +settlement fell within Endicott's jurisdiction, and he resolved to +finish the work which the Plymouth people began. So, about three +months after the first visit, Endicott, with a small party, crossed +the bay, hewed down the abominable May-pole, and, solemnly dubbing the +place Mount Dago, in memory of the Philistine idol which fell down +before the ark of the Lord, "admonished Morton's men to look ther +should be better walking." + +In the mean time, important events were happening in England. John +Oldham, having Thomas Morton in custody, landed at Plymouth, England, +not long after Endicott left for America. Morton posed as a martyr to +religious persecution, and Oldham, who remembered his own troubles +with the Plymouth settlers, soon fraternized with him. They acted in +connection with Ferdinando Gorges and his son John Gorges, who, +instead of punishing Morton for illicit trading, made use of him and +Oldham to dispute the title of the grant to Endicott and his +associates. Robert Gorges was then dead, and his brother John was heir +to his patent for the northeast side of Massachusetts Bay. + +Accordingly, John Gorges, in January, 1629, executed two deeds--one to +John Oldham and the other to Sir William Brereton--for two tracts of +land out of the original grant to Robert Gorges. Oldham planted +himself on his new rights, and tried to make his patent the means to +obtain from the Massachusetts Company in England the exclusive +management of the colony's fur trade, or the recognition of his rights +as an independent trader. But the company had already set aside the +profits of the fur trade as a fund for the defence of the colony and +the support of the public worship, and they would make no +concession.[9] Instead, they took the best means to strengthen their +title and suppress such disturbers as Oldham. + +A royal charter was solicited, and March 4, 1629, one of liberal +powers passed the seals, chiefly through the influence of the earl of +Warwick.[10] It created a corporation by the name of the "Governor and +Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England," and confirmed to them +all the territory given by the patent from the Council for New +England. The administration of its affairs was intrusted to a +governor, deputy, and eighteen assistants, who were annually, on the +last Wednesday of Easter term, to be elected by the freemen or members +of the corporation, and to meet once a month or oftener "for +despatching such business as concerned the company or plantation." +Four times a year the governor, assistants, and all the freemen were +to be summoned to "a greate generall, and solemne assemblie," and +these "greate and generall courts" were invested with full power to +choose and admit into the company so many as they should think fit, to +elect and constitute all requisite subordinate officers, and to make +laws and ordinances for the welfare of the company and for the +government of the plantation. + +The company was given the power to transport to its American territory +all persons who should go willingly, but the corporate body alone was +to decide what liberties, if any, the emigrants should enjoy. In fact, +the only restrictions in the charter upon the company and its court of +assistants were that they should license no man "to rob or spoil," +hinder no one from fishing upon the coast of New England, and pass "no +law contrary or repugnant to the lawes and statutes of England." +Matthew Cradock was named in the charter the governor of the company. + +One of the first steps taken by the company under the new charter was +to organize a temporary local government for the colonists in +Massachusetts. This was to consist of a governor, a deputy governor, +and thirteen councillors, of whom seven were to be named by the +company, three were to be chosen by these seven and the governor, and +three more were to be appointed by the "old planters" found in +Massachusetts at the arrival of Endicott. Land was allotted on a plan +like that adopted by the London Company: each shareholder was to have +two hundred acres for every L50 that he invested, and if he settled in +that country, fifty more for himself and fifty more for each member of +his family.[11] + +A letter of instructions was draughted, April 17, to Governor +Endicott, in which mention was made of the negotiations with Oldham, +and orders given to effect an occupation of the territory covered by +his grant from John Gorges. This letter was sent off by a special ship +which reached Salem June 20, 1629, and Endicott promptly despatched +three brothers of the name of Sprague, and a few others, who planted +themselves at Mishawum, within the disputed territory, where they +found but "one English palisadoed and thatched house wherein lived +Thomas Walford, a smith." Other emigrants followed, and there, in +July, was laid out by Endicott a town which was named Charlestown. +This practically ended the difficulty with Oldham, who was kept in the +dark till the ship sailed from England, and was then told by the +company that they were determined, on advice of counsel, to treat his +grant as void. As for Brereton, he was made a member of the company +and did not give any real trouble.[12] + +May 11, 1629, sailed from London five ships carrying about four +hundred settlers, most of whom were servants, and one hundred and +forty head of cattle and forty goats. They arrived at Salem, June 27, +and about four weeks later the ecclesiastical organization of the +colony was effected by John Endicott, who had already written to +Bradford that the worship at Plymouth was "no other than is warranted +by the evidence of the truth." He set apart July 20 for the work, and, +after a portion of the morning spent in prayer, Samuel Skelton and +Francis Higginson, two of the four ministers who accompanied the last +arrivals, avowed their belief in the doctrines of the Independents, +and were elected respectively pastor and teacher. A confession of +faith and a church covenant were drawn up, and August 6 thirty persons +associated themselves in a church.[13] + +Two of the gentlemen emigrants, John and Samuel Browne, presumed to +hold a separate service with a small company, using the Prayer Book. +Thereupon the hot-headed Endicott arrested them, put them on +shipboard, and sent them back to England. This conduct of Endicott's +was a flagrant aggression on vested rights, since the Brownes appear +in the charter as original promoters of the colony, and were sent to +Massachusetts by the company in the high capacity of assistants or +councillors to Endicott himself. The two brothers complained in +England, and in October, 1629, the company sent Endicott a warning +against "undigested counsels ... which may have any ill construction +with the state here and make us obnoxious to an adversary."[14] + +In another particular Endicott showed the summary character which +distinguished him. When Morton arrived in London a prisoner, in 1628, +Isaac Allerton was trying to secure from the Council for New England a +new patent for Plymouth colony. In Morton he appears to have +recognized a convenient medium for reaching Sir Ferdinando Gorges; at +any rate, when Allerton returned to New England in the summer of 1629, +he brought Thomas Morton back with him, to the scandal of the Plymouth +community.[15] After a few weeks at Plymouth, Morton repaired to Merry +Mount and resumed the business of a fur-trader, but, as might have +been expected, he was soon brought into conflict with his neighbors. + +Endicott, it appears, not long after Morton's return, in pursuance of +instructions from England, summoned all the settlers in Massachusetts +to a general court at Salem. At this meeting, according to Morton, +Endicott tendered to all present for signature articles binding them +"to follow the rule of God's word in all causes as well +ecclesiasticall as politicall." The alternative was banishment, but +Morton says that he declined to subscribe without the words in the +Massachusetts charter, "so as nothing be done contrary or repugnant to +the Lawes of the Kingdome of England." Endicott took fire at the +independent claims of Morton and sent a party to arrest him. They +found Morton gone, whereupon they broke into his house and +appropriated his corn and other property.[16] + +Meanwhile, in England, an important determination had been reached by +the leaders of the Massachusetts Company. At a general court, July 28, +1629, Cradock, the governor, read "certain propositions conceived by +himself" for transferring the headquarters of the company to +America.[17] The matter was held in abeyance, and the members present +were instructed to consider the question "privately and secretely." +August 26 twelve of the most influential members, among whom were John +Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, Thomas Dudley, and Richard Saltonstall, bound +themselves by a written agreement at Cambridge to emigrate with their +families to New England if a transfer of the government could be +effected.[18] + +Three days later the company held another meeting, when the removal +was formally proposed and carried. Accordingly, such of the old +officers as did not wish to take part in the emigration resigned their +places, and for governor the choice fell upon John Winthrop, a wealthy +gentleman of Groton, in Suffolk, and for deputy governor upon Thomas +Dudley, who had been steward of the earl of Lincoln. The ultimate +effect of this brilliant stroke was to convert the company into a +colony.[19] + +This change of policy was taken when affairs looked particularly dark +in England, for it was about this time that King Charles, provoked at +the opposition of Parliament, entered upon his policy of ruling +without one. March 10, 1629, Parliament was dissolved, and no other +was called for a space of eleven years. Several of the most eminent +members were languishing in the Tower of London, and the king's +proclamation of March 27 announced that he would "account it as a +presumption for any to prescribe any time unto us for Parliaments, the +calling, continuing, and dissolving of which is always in our +power."[20] + +The result was a general stir throughout England, and in a few months +a thousand persons prepared to leave. They went in several parties in +seventeen ships, and there was probably a greater proportion of men of +wealth and solid respectability than ever had left England for America +in any one year before. The colonists, though Puritans, were church of +England men, and the idea of any separation from their old religious +connections was expressly disclaimed in a pamphlet published in 1630, +entitled the "Planters' Plea,"[21] which has been, with good reason, +assigned to Rev. John White. In this paper the writer appeals to the +address of the colonists at their departure, wherein they termed the +church of England "our dear mother."[22] Apparently anxious to repel +the imputation of nonconformity against "our New England colony," he +adds the confident assertion that John Winthrop, the chosen governor, +has been "in every way regular and conformable in the whole course of +his practice"; and that "three parts of four of the men planted in New +England are able to justify themselves to have lived in a constant +conformity unto our church government and orders." + +The party with which Winthrop sailed arrived at Salem June 12, 1630, +after a nine weeks' voyage, in which they were exposed to stormy and +boisterous weather. They found the colony of Endicott in "a sad and +unexpected condition." More than a fourth part had died during the +previous winter, and many of the survivors were weak and sick. There +was a general scarcity of bread and corn, and the arrival of Winthrop +and his emigrants did not improve matters, for many of the new-comers +were suffering from scurvy, and a quantity of supplies which had been +bought in England had by some mistake been left behind.[23] + +[Footnote 1: Hubbard, _New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, +2d series, V.), 107, 108.] + +[Footnote 2: _Planters' Plea_ (Force, _Tracts_, II., No. iii.).] + +[Footnote 3: The patent is not preserved, but there is a recital of +its main feature in the Massachusetts charter. Poore, _Charters and +Constitutions_, I., 932.] + +[Footnote 4: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 25, 35; +Gorges, _Description of New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, +3d series, VI., 75).] + +[Footnote 5: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1661-1668, p. 347.] + +[Footnote 6: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 80.] + +[Footnote 7: Hubbard, New England (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d +series, V., 109).] + +[Footnote 8: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 314.] + +[Footnote 9: Young, _Chronicles of Massachusetts_, 148; Adams, _Three +Episodes of Mass. Hist._, I., 216.] + +[Footnote 10: See charter in Poore, _Charters and Constitutions_, I., +932.] + +[Footnote 11: Young, _Chronicles of Massachusetts_, 192-200.] + +[Footnote 12: Hutchinson, _Massachusetts Bay_, I., 17; Adams, _Three +Episodes of Mass. Hist._, I., 216-220.] + +[Footnote 13: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 315, 316.] + +[Footnote 14: Young, _Chronicles of Massachusetts_, 89, 290.] + +[Footnote 15: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 302.] + +[Footnote 16: Morton, _New English Canaan_ (Force, _Tracts_, II., No. +v.), 106, 107.] + +[Footnote 17: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 49.] + +[Footnote 18: Young, _Chronicles of Massachusetts_, 282-284.] + +[Footnote 19: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 51.] + +[Footnote 20: Rymer, _Foedera_, XIX., 63.] + +[Footnote 21: Force, _Tracts_, II., No. iii.] + +[Footnote 22: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 312.] + +[Footnote 23: Thomas Dudley, letter to the countess of Lincoln (Force, +_Tracts_, II., No. iv.).] + +[Illustration: NEW ENGLAND 1652] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +FOUNDING OF MASSACHUSETTS + +(1630-1642) + + +Winthrop's government superseded Endicott's; but Winthrop, not liking +the appearance of the country around Salem, repaired to Charlestown +with most of the new-comers. Here, as elsewhere, there was much +sickness and death. Owing to the dearth of provisions it was found +necessary to free all the servants sent over within the last two years +at a cost of L16 or L20 each. The discouragement was reflected in the +return to England within a few months of more than a hundred persons +in the ships that brought them over. + +The gloom of his surroundings caused Winthrop to set apart July 30 as +a day of prayer, and on that day Rev. John Wilson, after the manner of +proceeding the year before at Salem, entered into a church covenant +with Winthrop, Dudley, and Isaac Johnson, one of the assistants. Two +days later they associated with themselves five others; and more being +presently added, this third congregational church established in New +England, elected, August 27, John Wilson to be their teacher and +Increase Nowell to be ruling elder.[1] + +Still the guise of loyalty to the church of England was for some time +maintained. In a letter to the countess of Lincoln, March 28, 1631, +the deputy governor, Thomas Dudley, one of the warmest of the +Puritans, repelled "the false and scandalous report," which those who +returned "the last year" had spread in England that "we are Brownists +in religion and ill affected to our state at home"; "and for our +further cleareinge," he said, "I truely affirme that I know noe one +person who came over with us the last yeare to be altered in his +judgment and affection eyther in ecclesiasticall or civill respects +since our comeinge hither."[2] + +Winthrop and his assistants held their first formal session at +Charlestown, August 23, 1630, and took vigorous measures to +demonstrate their authority. Morton challenged attention on account +not only of his religious views and his friendship for Gorges, but of +his defiant attitude to the colony, and an order was issued that +"Morton, of Mount Wolliston, should presently be sent for by process." +Two weeks later his trial was had, and he was ordered "to be set into +the bilboes," and afterwards sent prisoner to England. To defray the +charges of his transportation, his goods were seized, and "for the +many wrongs he had done the Indians" his house was burned to the +ground,[3] a sentence which, according to Morton, caused the Indians +to say that "God would not love them that burned this good man's +house."[4] + +Death was still playing havoc with the immigrants at Charlestown. +Several hundred men, women, and children were crowded together in a +narrow space, and had no better protection than tents, wigwams, +booths, and log-cabins. By December two hundred of the late arrivals +had perished, and among the dead were Francis Higginson, who had taken +a leading part in establishing the church at Salem, the first in +Massachusetts.[5] The severity of the diseases was ascribed to the +lack of good water at Charlestown, and, accordingly, the settlers +there broke up into small parties and sought out different places of +settlement. + +On the other side of the Charles River was a peninsula occupied by +William Blackstone, one of the companions of Robert Gorges at +Wessagusset in 1626. It was blessed with a sweet and pleasant spring, +and was one of the places now selected as a settlement. September 7, +1630, the court of assistants gave this place the name of Boston; and +at the same court Dorchester and Watertown began their career under +legislative sanction.[6] Before winter the towns scattered through +Massachusetts were eight in number--Salem, Charlestown, Dorchester, +Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Lynn.[7] + +October 19, 1630, a general court, the first in New England, was held +in Boston. The membership consisted of the governor, deputy, eight +assistants, and one or two others, for these were all at that time in +Massachusetts possessing the franchise of the company.[8] The former +officers were re-elected, and a resolution was adopted that "the +freemen should have the power to choose assistants when they are to be +chosen, and the assistants to choose from among themselves the +governor and his deputy." The rule implied a strong reluctance to +leave out of the board any person once elected magistrate. + +From the last week in December to the middle of February, 1631, the +suffering in the colony was very great, especially among the poorer +classes, and many died. Were it not for the abundance of clams, +mussels, and fish gathered from the bay there might have been a +"starving time," like that of Jamestown in 1609. Winthrop appointed a +fast to be kept February 22, 1631; but February 5 the _Lyon_ arrived +with supplies, and a public thanksgiving was substituted for a public +fasting.[9] + +From this time the colony may be said to have secured a permanent +footing. The court of assistants, who had suspended their sessions +during the winter, now began to meet again, and made many orders with +reference to the economic and social affairs of the colonists. There +were few natives in the neighborhood of the settlement, and +Chickatabot, their sachem, anxious to secure the protection of the +English against the Taratines, of Maine, visited Boston in April and +established friendly communications.[10] At the courts of elections of +1631, 1632, and 1633 Winthrop was re-elected governor. His conduct was +not deemed harsh enough by some people, and in 1634 Thomas Dudley +succeeded him. In 1635 Jonn Haynes became governor, and in 1636 Henry +Vane, known in English history as Sir Harry Vane, after which time the +governorship was restored to Winthrop. + +Puritanism entered the warp and woof of the Massachusetts colony, and +a combination of circumstances tended to build up a theocracy which +dominated affairs. The ministers who came over were among the most +learned men of the age, and the influence which their talents and +character gave them was greatly increased by the sufferings and the +isolation of the church members, who were thus brought to confide all +the more in those who, under such conditions, dispensed religious +consolation. Moreover, the few who had at first the direction of civil +matters were strongly religious men, and inclined to promote the unity +of the church by all the means at hand. + +We have noticed the turn of affairs given by Endicott at Salem, and +how Winthrop followed his example on his arrival at Charlestown. After +the court of assistants resumed their meetings in March, 1631, the +upbuilding of the theocracy was rapidly pushed. Various people deemed +inimical to the accepted state of affairs were punished with +banishment from the colony, and in some cases the penalties of +whipping, cropping of ears, and confiscation of estate were added. In +some cases, as that of Sir Christopher Gardiner, a secret agent of Sir +Ferdinando Gorges, there was reason for parting with these people; but +in other cases the principle of punishment was persecution and not +justice. There is a record of an order for reshipping to England six +persons of whose offence nothing more is recorded than "that they were +persons unmeet to inhabit here."[11] + +The most decided enlargement of the power of the theocracy was made in +the general court which met at Boston in May, 1631, when it was +resolved that the assistants need not be chosen afresh every year, but +might keep their seats until removed by a special vote of the +freemen.[12] The company was enlarged by the addition of one hundred +and eighteen "freemen"; but "to the end that the body of the commons +may be preserved of honest and good men," it was ordered that "for the +time to come no man should be admitted to the freedom of this body +politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the +limits of the same." + +These proceedings practically vested all the judicial and legislative +powers in the court of assistants, whose tenure was permanent, and +left to the freemen in the general court little else than the power of +admitting freemen. Not only was citizenship based on +church-membership, but the Bible was the only law-book recognized by +the court of assistants. Of this book the ministers were naturally +thought the best interpreters, and it thus became the custom for the +magistrates to consult them on all questions of importance. Offenders +were not merely law-breakers, but sinners, and their offences ranged +from such as wore long hair to such as dealt in witchcraft and +sorcery. + +Fortunately, this system did not long continue without some +modification. In February, 1632, the court of assistants assessed a +tax upon the towns for the erection of a fortification at Newtown, +subsequently Cambridge. The inhabitants of Watertown grumbled about +paying their proportion of this tax, and at the third general court, +May 9, 1632, it was ordered that hereafter the governor and assistants +in laying taxes should be guided by the advice of a board composed of +two delegates from every town; and that the governor and other +magistrates should be elected by the whole body of the freemen +assembled as the charter required. + +Two years later a general court consisting of the governor, +assistants, and two "committees," or delegates, elected by the freemen +resident in each town, assembled and assumed the powers of +legislation.[13] This change, which brought about a popular +representative body--second in point of time only to Virginia--was a +natural extension of the proceedings of 1632. In 1644 the assistants +and delegates quarrelled over an appeal in a lawsuit, and as a result +the division of the court into two co-ordinate branches occurred.[14] + +Nevertheless, the authority of the court of assistants, for several +reasons, continued to be very great. In the first place, unlike the +Council of Virginia, which could only amend or reject the action of +the lower house, the assistants had the right of originating laws. +Then the custom at the annual elections of first putting the names of +the incumbents to the vote made the tenure of its members a pretty +constant affair. Next, as a court, it exercised for years a vast +amount of discretionary power. Not till 1641 was the first code, +called the _Body of Liberties_, adopted, and this code itself +permitted the assistants to supply any defect in the law by the "word +of God," a phrase which to the followers of Calvin had especial +reference to the fierce legislation of the Old Testament. + +The course of the colonial authorities speedily jeopardized the +charter which they obtained so readily from the king. Upon the arrival +in England, in 1631, of Morton, Gardiner, and other victims of the +court of assistants, they communicated with Gorges (now powerfully +assisted by John Mason); and he gladly seized upon their complaints to +accuse the ministers and people of Massachusetts of railing against +the state and church of England, and of an evident purpose of casting +off their allegiance at the first favorable opportunity. The complaint +was referred, in December, 1632, to a committee of the council,[15] +before whom the friends of the company in London--Cradock, +Saltonstall, and Humphrey--filed a written answer. Affairs bore a bad +appearance for the colonists, but the unexpected happened. Powerful +influences at court were brought to bear upon the members of the +committee, and to the astonishment of every one they reported, January +19, 1633, against any interference until "further inquiry" could be +made.[16] King Charles not only approved this report, but volunteered +the remark that "he would have them severely punished who did abuse +his governor and the plantation."[17] + +Though the danger for the present was avoided, it was not wholly +removed. In August, 1633, Laud was made archbishop of Canterbury, and +his accession to authority was distinguished by a more rigorous +enforcement of the laws against Nonconformists. The effect was to +cause the lagging emigration to New England to assume immense volume. +There was no longer concealment of the purposes of the emigrants, for +the Puritan preachers began everywhere to speak openly of the +corruptions of the English church.[18] In September, 1633, the +theocracy of Massachusetts were reinforced by three eminent ministers, +John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Thomas Shepard; and so many other +persons accompanied and followed them that by the end of 1634 the +population was not far short of four thousand. The clergy, now +thirteen or fourteen in number, were nearly all graduates of Oxford or +Cambridge. + +This exodus of so many of the best, "both ministers and +Christians,"[19] aroused the king and Archbishop Laud to the danger +threatened by the Massachusetts colony. Gorges, Mason, and the rest +renewed the attack, and in February, 1634, an order was obtained from +the Privy Council for the detention of ten vessels bound for +Massachusetts. At the same time Cradock, the ex-governor of the +company, was commanded by the Privy Council to hand in the +Massachusetts charter.[20] Soon after, the king announced his +intention of "giving order for a general governor" for New England; +and in April, 1634, he appointed a new commission for the government +of the colonies, called "The Commission for Foreign Plantations," with +William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury, at the head. Mr. Cradock +transmitted a copy of the order of council, requiring a production of +the charter, to Boston, where it was received by Governor Dudley in +July, 1634. + +This was a momentous crisis in the history of the colony. The governor +and assistants made answer to Mr. Cradock that the charter could not +be returned except by command of the general court, not then in +session. At the same time orders were given for fortifying Castle +Island, Dorchester, and Charlestown. In this moment of excitement the +figure of Endicott again dramatically crosses the stage of history. +Conceiving an intense dislike to the cross in the English flag, he +denounced it as antichrist, and cut it out with his own hands from the +ensign borne by the company at Salem. Endicott was censured by the +general court for the act, but soon the cross was left out of all the +flags except that of the fort at Castle Island, in Boston Harbor.[21] + +Massachusetts, while taking these bold measures at home, did not +neglect the protection of her interests in England. The government of +Plymouth, in July, 1634, sent Edward Winslow to England, and Governor +Dudley and his council engaged him to present an humble petition in +their behalf.[22] Winslow was a shrewd diplomat, but was so far from +succeeding with his suit that upon his appearance before the lords +commissioners in 1635 he was, through Laud's "vehement importunity," +committed to Fleet Prison, where he lay seventeen weeks.[23] + +Gorges and Mason lost no time in improving their victory. February 3, +1635, they secured a redivision of the coast of New England by the +Council for New England, into twelve parts, which were assigned to as +many persons. Sir William Alexander received the country from the +river St. Croix to Pemaquid; Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the province of +Maine from Penobscot to Piscataqua; Captain John Mason, New Hampshire +and part of Massachusetts as far as Cape Ann, while the coast from +Cape Ann to Narragansett Bay fell to Lord Edward Gorges, and the +portion from Narragansett Bay to the Connecticut River to the marquis +of Hamilton.[24] + +April 25, 1635, the Council for New England issued a formal +declaration of their reasons for resigning the great charter to the +king, chief among which was their inability to rectify the complaints +of their servants in America against the Massachusetts Company, who +had "surreptitiously" obtained a charter for lands "justly passed to +Captain Robert Gorges long before."[25] June 7 the charter was +surrendered to the king, who appointed Sir Ferdinando Gorges "general +governor." The expiring company further appointed Thomas Morton as +their lawyer to ask for a _quo warranto_ against the charter of the +Massachusetts Company. + +In September, 1635, judgment was given in Westminster Hall that "the +franchises of the Massachusetts Company be taken and seized into the +king's hands."[26] But, as Winthrop said, the Lord "frustrated their +designs." King Charles was trying to rule without a Parliament, and +had no money to spend against New England. Therefore, the cost of +carrying out the orders of the government devolved upon Mason and +Gorges, who set to work to build a ship to convey the latter to +America, but it fell and broke in the launching,[27] and about +November, 1635, Captain John Mason died. + +After this, though the king in council, in July, 1637, named Gorges +again as "general governor,"[28] and the Lords Commissioners for +Plantations, in April, 1638, demanded the charter anew,[29] the +Massachusetts general court would not recognize either order. Gorges +could not raise the necessary funds to compel obedience, and the +attention of the king and his archbishop was occupied with forcing +episcopacy upon Scotland. In 1642 war began in England between +Parliament and king, and Massachusetts was left free to shape her own +destinies. It was now her turn to become aggressive. Construing her +charter to mean that her territory extended to a due east line three +miles north of the most northerly branch of Merrimac River, she +possessed herself, in 1641, of New Hampshire, the territory of the +heirs of John Mason; and in 1653-1658, of Maine, the province of +Gorges. + +When the Long Parliament met, in 1641, the Puritans in England found +enough occupation at home, and emigration greatly diminished. In 1643 +Massachusetts became a member of the New England confederation, and +her population was then about fifteen thousand; but nearly as many +more had come over and were distributed among three new +colonies--Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Haven. + +[Footnote 1: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 332; Winthrop, _New +England_, I., 36.] + +[Footnote 2: Force, _Tracts_, II., No. iv., 15.] + +[Footnote 3: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 75.] + +[Footnote 4: Morton, _New English Canaan_ (Force, _Tracts_, II., No. +v.), 109.] + +[Footnote 5: Dudley's letter (ibid., No. iv.).] + +[Footnote 6: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 75, 77.] + +[Footnote 7: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 323, 324] + +[Footnote 8: Ibid., 323.] + +[Footnote 9: Hubbard, _New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, +2d series, V.), 138, 139; Winthrop, _New England_, I., 52.] + +[Footnote 10: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 64.] + +[Footnote 11: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 82.] + +[Footnote 12: Ibid., 87.] + +[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 84, 90, 152.] + +[Footnote 14: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 58, 59; Winthrop, _New +England_, II., 115-118, 193.] + +[Footnote 15: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._ 1574-1660, p. 158.] + +[Footnote 16: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 356.] + +[Footnote 17: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 122, 123.] + +[Footnote 18: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 174.] + +[Footnote 19: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 161.] + +[Footnote 20: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 341.] + +[Footnote 21: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 161, 163, 166, 186, 188, +224.] + +[Footnote 22: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 163.] + +[Footnote 23: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 393.] + +[Footnote 24: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., +183-188.] + +[Footnote 25: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 200, 204.] + +[Footnote 26: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 423-425.] + +[Footnote 27: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 12.] + +[Footnote 28: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 256.] + +[Footnote 29: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 432.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS + +(1631-1638) + + +The history of the beginnings of the Massachusetts colony shows that +there was no real unity in church matters among the first emigrants. +The majority were strongly tinctured with Puritanism, but +nonconformity took on many shades of opinion. When it came to adopting +a form of religion for Massachusetts, the question was decided by the +ministers and the handful who then enjoyed the controlling power in +the colony, and not by the majority of inhabitants. It was in this way +that the Congregational church, and not the Presbyterian church, or a +simplified form of the Anglican church, obtained its first hold upon +the colony. + +The adoption of the law of 1631 making membership in the +Congregational church the condition of citizenship, and the arrival at +a later day of so many talented ministers embittered by persecution +against the Anglican church, strengthened the connection and made it +permanent. "God's word" was the law of the state, and the +interpretation of it was the natural function of the clergy. Thus, +through church influence, the limitations on thought and religious +practice became more stringent than in the mother-country, where the +suffrage took in all freeholders, whether they were adherents of the +established church or not. + +In Massachusetts even Puritans who declined to acknowledge the form of +church government prescribed by the self-established ecclesiastical +authority were practically aliens, compelled to bear the burdens of +church and state, and without a chance of making themselves felt in +the government. And yet, from their own point of view, the position of +the Puritan rulers was totally illogical. While suffering from +persecution in England, they had appealed to liberty of conscience; +and when dominant in America the denouncers of persecution turned +persecutors. + +A spirit of resistance on the part of many was the natural consequence +of a position so full of contradiction. Instances of contumacy +happened with such frequency and determination as should have given +warning to those in control. In November, 1631, Richard Brown, an +elder in the Watertown church, was reported to hold that "the Romish +church was a Christian church." Forthwith the court of assistants +notified the Watertown congregation that such views could not be +allowed, and Winthrop, who went in person with the deputy governor, +Dudley, used such summary arguments that Richard Brown, though "a man +of violent spirit," thought it prudent to hold his tongue thereafter. +In November, 1634, John Eliot, known afterwards so well for his noble +work among the Indians, in a sermon censured the court for proceeding +too arbitrarily towards the Pequots. He, too, thought better of his +words when a solemn embassy of ministers presented the matter in a +more orthodox light. + +In March, 1635, Captain Israel Stoughton, one of the deputies from +Dorchester to the general court, incurred the resentment of the +authorities. This "troubler of Israel," as Governor Winthrop termed +him, wrote a pamphlet denying the right of the governor and assistants +to call themselves "Scriptural Magistrates." Being questioned by the +court, the captain made haste, according to the record, to desire that +"the said book might be burned as being weak and oppressive." Still +unsatisfied, the court ordered that for his said offence he should for +three years be disabled from bearing any office in the colony.[1] + +The first great check which this religious despotism received +proceeded from Roger Williams, who arrived in February, 1631, in the +_Lyon_, which brought supplies to the famishing colonists of +Massachusetts. He was the son of a merchant in London and a graduate +of Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of master of +arts in 1627. In his mere religious creed Williams was harsher than +even the orthodox ministers of Massachusetts. Soon after his arrival +he was invited to become one of the ministers of the Boston church, +but refused because that church declined to make a public declaration +of their repentance for holding communion in the churches of England +while they lived in the home country. + +He was then invited to Salem, where he made himself very popular by +his talents and eloquence. Nevertheless, within two months he advanced +other "scrupulosities," denying the validity of land-titles proceeding +from the Massachusetts government, and the right of the magistrates to +impose penalties as to Sabbath-breaking or breaches of the laws of the +first table. Winthrop and his assistants complained to the Salem +church, and this interference prevented his intended ordination at +Salem.[2] + +Williams presently removed to Plymouth, where his peculiar views were +indulged, and where he improved his time in learning the Indian +language and cultivating the acquaintance of the chief sachems of the +neighboring Indian tribes. When, two years later, in 1633, Williams +returned to live at Salem for the purpose of assisting the minister, +Mr. Skelton, who was sick, the rulers of the church at Plymouth +granted him a dismissal, but accompanied it with some words of warning +about his "unsettled judgment and inconsistency."[3] + +Williams was soon in trouble in Massachusetts. While at Plymouth his +interest in the Indians led him to prepare for the private reading of +Bradford a pamphlet which argued that the king of England had no right +to give away the lands of the Indians in America. The pamphlet had +never been published, but reports of its contents reached Boston, and +the court of assistants, following, as usual, the advice of the +ministers, pounced upon the author and summoned him to answer for what +it was claimed was a denial of their charter rights. + +When Williams appeared for this purpose, in January, 1634, the +objections of the court shifted to some vague phrases in the document +which they construed to reflect upon the king. These expressions were +readily explained by Williams, and he was promptly forgiven by the +court on his professing loyalty and taking the usual oath of +allegiance to his majesty.[4] Perhaps this singular behavior on the +part of the court is explained by the apprehension generally felt that +Ferdinando Gorges, in England, would succeed in his attempt to vacate +the charter of Massachusetts. If the charter had been successfully +called in, Williams's ground of the sufficiency of the Indian title to +lands might have proved useful as a last resort.[5] + +Nevertheless, in November, 1634, the authorities were on his track +again. The pretext now was that Williams "taught publicly against the +king's patent," and that "he termed the churches of England +antichristian." This revamping of an old charge which had been +explained and dropped was probably due to a change of attitude towards +the English government. In May, 1634, the general court elected the +intolerant deputy governor, Thomas Dudley, governor in the place of +Winthrop; and when in July the news of the demand of the Lords +Commissioners for Foreign Plantations for the surrender of the colony +charter was received at Boston, the new governor took steps, as we +have seen, to commit the colony to a fight rather than yield +compliance.[6] + +Nothing, however, resulted from the charges against Williams, and it +was not until March, 1635, that he again excited the wrath of the +government. Then his scruples took the shape of objections to the +recent legislation requiring every resident to swear to defend the +provincial charter. Williams declared that the state had no right to +demand an oath of an "unregenerate man," for that "we thereby had +communion with a wicked man in the worship of God and caused him to +take the name of God in vain." + +Williams was, accordingly, summoned to Boston in April, and subjected +to confutation by the ministers, but positive action was deferred. +While the matter remained thus undetermined, the church at Salem +elected him teacher, and this action was construed as a contempt on +the part of both Williams and the Salem church. Accordingly, when the +general court met in July, 1635, Haynes now being governor, it entered +an order giving them till next court to make satisfaction for their +conduct. At the same court a petition of the Salem church for some +land in Marblehead Neck was rejected "because they had chosen Mr. +Williams their teacher." + +Affairs had now drawn to a crisis. The Salem church wrote a letter to +all the other churches protesting against their treatment, and +Williams notified his own church that he would not commune with them +unless they declined to commune with the other churches of the colony. + +When the general court met in September, Salem was punished with the +loss of representation, and thereupon gave way and submitted. Not so +Williams. In October, 1635, he was again "convented," and on his +refusing, in the presence of all the ministers of the colony, to +renounce his opinions, he was banished from Massachusetts. The time +given him to depart was only six weeks, and though some of the laymen +in the church opposed the decree, every clerical member save one +approved it. + +Liberty to remain till spring was afterwards granted Williams, but he +was admonished not to go about to draw others to his opinions. As +Williams was one of those contentious people who must talk, this +inhibition was futile. It is true that he no longer preached in his +church, as the congregation had submitted to the will of those in +power. But he conversed in private with some of his friends, and +arranged a plan of establishing a new settlement on the shores of +Narragansett Bay. + +When information of this design reached Boston in January, 1636, the +authorities, on the plea that an heretical settlement in the +neighborhood might affect the peace of the colony, determined to get +rid of Williams altogether by shipping him to England. An order was +sent to him to come to Boston, which he declined to obey on account of +ill-health. Captain Underhill was then sent to take him by force, but +before the doughty captain could arrive, Williams, getting +intelligence of his purpose, sick as he was, left his wife and two +infant children and hurried away, and no one at Salem would give +Underhill any information.[7] + +Thirty-five years later Williams wrote, "I was sorely tossed for one +fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bed or +bread did mean." In this extremity he experienced the benefits of the +friendly relations which he had cultivated with the Indians at +Plymouth, for the Pokanokets received him kindly and gave him some +land on the Seekonk River. + +The long arm of the Massachusetts authorities reached out for him even +here. He was soon advised by his friend, Governor Winslow, of +Plymouth, that as his plantation was within the limits of the Plymouth +colony he had better remove to the other side of the river, as his +government was "loath to displease the Bay." So Williams, with five of +his friends, who now joined him, embarked in his canoe and established +his settlement in June, 1636, at Providence, where he was joined by +many members of the church of Salem.[8] This was the beginning of +Rhode Island, or, rather, of one of the beginnings of their complex +colony. + +The religion of the ruling class in Massachusetts, though bitterly +hostile to the ritual of the English church, was a matter of strict +regulation--there were rules regarding fast days, Sabbath attendance, +prayer-meetings, apparel, and speech. The wrath of God and eternal +punishment formed the substance of every sermon. In the church at +Boston this rigid system found a standard exponent in the pastor, John +Wilson; but the "teacher," John Cotton, a man of far greater ability, +sometimes preached sermons in which he dwelt upon the divine mercy and +love. The result was that the people crowded to hear him, and more +persons were converted and added to the church in Boston in the +earlier months of Cotton's residence than in all the other churches in +the colony.[9] + +Among the members of Cotton's church was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who +knew Cotton in England and had crossed the sea to hear his teachings. +After her arrival, in June, 1636, she made herself very popular by her +ministrations "in time of childbirth and other occasions of bodily +infirmities." Soon she ventured to hold open meetings for women, at +which the sermons of the ministers furnished the subject of comment. +From a mere critic of the opinions of others Mrs. Hutchinson gradually +presumed to act the part of teacher herself, and her views on the +questions of "a covenant of works" and "a covenant of grace" attracted +much attention.[10] The former of these terms had been used by +Protestants to designate the condition of the Catholic church, which +imposed as the condition of salvation penances, confessions, +pilgrimages, legacies to the church, etc.; while the latter expression +described the condition of all true Protestant Christians who found +peace in the consciousness of holiness of spirit and faith in Jesus +Christ. + +Mrs. Hutchinson gave an emotional rendering to the "covenant of +grace," and held that the divine spirit dwelt in every true believer +and no demeanor in life could evidence its existence. To the +Massachusetts ministers this doctrine seemed like a claim to +inspiration, and struck at the whole discipline of the church. But +what disturbed them more than anything else was the report that she +had singled out two of the whole order, John Cotton and her +brother-in-law John Wheelwright, to praise as walking in "the covenant +of grace."[11] + +The quarrel began first in the bosom of the Boston church. Wilson, the +pastor, resented Mrs. Hutchinson's preference of Mr. Cotton, the +teacher, and began to denounce Mrs. Hutchinson's opinions. The +congregation divided into two factions; on the one side was the +pastor, supported by John Winthrop and a few others, and on the other +were Mrs. Hutchinson, young Harry Vane, then governor, and the large +majority of the members. Mr. Cotton was not identified with either +side, but sympathized with the latter. Matters verged to a crisis when +the Hutchinsonians announced their intention of electing Mr. +Wheelwright, who had not long since arrived, as a second teacher in +the church. + +The election was to take place on Sunday, October 30, 1636; but +October 25 the general court met and the ministers from other parts of +the colony came to Boston and held a conference at which Cotton, +Wheelwright, and Wilson were present, and there was a general +discussion of all points in controversy. They agreed that +"sanctification" (_i.e._, a holy deportment) did help to evidence +"justification" (salvation); but there was more or less difference on +the question of the "indwelling of the Holy Ghost." Mr. Wheelwright +argued in its favor, but held that the indwelling referred to did not +amount to "a personal union with God," as Mrs. Hutchinson and Governor +Vane contended. + +The conference instead of quieting aggravated the difficulty. Five +days later, when Mr. Wheelwright's name was voted upon, Winthrop rose +and hotly objected to him on the ground that he held unorthodox +opinions respecting the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and was apt to +raise "doubtful disputations." As a consequence the church would not +elect Wheelwright in the face of an objection from so prominent a +member as Winthrop. Next day Winthrop continued his attack, insisting +that Wheelwright must necessarily believe in a "personal union." + +At this juncture Governor Harry Vane unfortunately gave to the +existing difficulties a political aspect. Vane was the son of one of +the secretaries of state of England. Having taken a religious turn, he +forsook all the honors and preferments of the court and obtained the +consent of his parents to visit Massachusetts. Almost immediately +after his arrival, he was elected, in May, 1636, when only twenty-four +years of age, governor of the colony, with John Winthrop as deputy +governor. After the quarrel in regard to the election of Wheelwright, +Vane, who had become tired of the distractions in the colony, convened +the general court, December 10, 1636, to tender his resignation upon +the half-reason that his private affairs required his presence in +England. + +Next day one of the assistants very feelingly regretted the coming +loss, especially in view of threatened attacks from the French and +Indians. The remarks took Vane off his guard. Carried away by his +feelings, he burst into tears and protested that, though his outward +estate was really in peril, yet he would not have thought of deserting +them at this crisis had he not felt the inevitable danger of God's +judgments upon them for their dissensions. Thereupon the court, of +which a majority were his opponents, declined to allow his departure +on the grounds assigned. Vane saw his mistake and reverted to his +private estate. The court then consented to his departure, and a court +of elections was called for December 15 to supply the vacancy caused +by his resignation. + +Before this time arrived the religious drama took a new turn. The +friends of Mrs. Hutchinson knew the value of having the head of the +government with them, and would not dismiss Vane from the church, +whereupon he withdrew his resignation altogether. Till the next +election in May the colony was more divided than ever. Mr. Wheelwright +was appointed to take charge of a church at Mount Wollaston, but his +forced withdrawal from Boston was a source of irritation to his +numerous friends. Mrs. Hutchinson remained and was the storm-centre, +while Vane, who now sought a re-election, was freely accused of +subterfuge and deception. + +A day or two after December 15 the ministers and the court held a +meeting at which very hot words passed between Governor Vane and Rev. +Hugh Peter. Wilson, the pastor of Boston, also indulged in caustic +criticisms directed at Governor Vane and the other friends of Mrs. +Hutchinson. By this speech Wilson gave great offence to his +congregation, who would have laid a formal church censure upon him had +not Cotton interfered and in lieu of it gave his fellow-preacher a +good scolding, under the guise of what Winthrop calls "a grave +exhortation." + +The clergy were very anxious to win over Mr. Cotton, and about a week +later held a meeting at Boston and solemnly catechised Cotton on many +abstruse points. The storm of theological rancor was at its height. +Harsh words were hurled about, and by some orthodox ministers Mrs. +Hutchinson and her friends were denounced as Familists, Antinomians, +etc., after certain early sects who cherished the doctrines of private +inspiration and had committed many strange offences. On the other +hand, some of Mrs. Hutchinson's friends scornfully referred to the +orthodox party as legalists and antichrists, "who walked in a covenant +of works." + +Harsh words are only one step removed from harsh measures. The +legalists were in a majority in the general court, and they resolved +to retaliate for the treatment Mr. Wilson had received at the hands of +his congregation.[12] At the general court which convened March 9, +1637, Wilson's sermon was approved and Wheelwright was summoned to +answer for alleged "seditious and treasonable words" that were used by +him in a sermon preached in Boston on a recent fast day. This action +brought forth a petition from the church of Boston in Wheelwright's +behalf, which the court declared "presumptious" and rejected. +Wheelwright himself was pronounced guilty, and thereupon a protest was +offered by Vane, and a second petition came from Boston, which, like +the first, went unheeded, and only served at a later day to involve +those who signed it. + +Amid great excitement the legalists carried a resolution to hold the +May election at Newtown (Cambridge) instead of Boston, a partisan +move, for Newtown was more subject to their influence than Boston. At +this court in May the turbulence was so great that the parties came +near to blows. Threats resounded on all sides, and Wilson was so +carried away with excitement that he climbed a tree to harangue the +multitude. The Vane forces struggled hard, but were badly defeated, +and Winthrop was restored to his former office as governor, while the +stern Thomas Dudley was made deputy governor. Vane and his assistants, +Coddington and Dummer, were defeated and "quite left out," even from +the magistracy.[13] + +Secure in the possession of power, the legalists now proceeded to +suppress the opposing party altogether. An order was passed commanding +that no one should harbor any new arrival for more than three weeks +without leave of the magistrates. This was to prevent any dangerous +irruption of sympathizers with Mrs. Hutchinson from England, and it +was applied against a brother of Mrs. Hutchinson and some others of +her friends who arrived not long after. + +August 3, 1637, Vane sailed for England, and thenceforward the +Hutchinson faction, abandoned by their great leader, made little +resistance. In the latter part of the same month (August 30) a great +synod of the ministers was held at Newtown, which was the first thing +of the sort attempted in America, and included all the teaching elders +of the colony and some new-comers from England. This body set to work +to lay hold of the heresies which infected the atmosphere of the +colony, and formulated about "eighty opinions," some "blasphemous," +but others merely "erroneous and unsafe." How many of them were really +entertained by Mrs. Hutchinson's followers and how many were merely +inferences drawn from their teachings by their opponents it is hard to +say. + +When these heresies were all enumerated and compared with the opinions +of Cotton and Wheelwright, only five points of possible heterodoxy on +their part appeared. Over these there was a solemn wrangle for days, +till Cotton, shrinking from his position, contrived, through abundant +use of doubtfull expressions, to effect his reconciliation with the +dominant party. After a session of twenty-four days the synod +adjourned, and Wheelwright, alone of the ministers, was left as the +scapegoat of the Antinomians, and with him the majority determined to +make short work.[14] + +At the general court which met November 2, 1637, the transgressions of +Wheelwright through his fast-day sermon were made the basis of +operations. For this offence Wheelwright had been judged guilty more +than nine months before, but sentence had been deferred; he was now +sentenced to disfranchisement and banishment. Many of his friends at +Boston, including William Aspinwall and John Coggeshall, delegates to +the general court, experienced similar treatment for signing the +petition presented to the court in March, 1637, after the verdict +against Wheelwright.[15] + +An order was passed for disarming Mrs. Hutchinson's followers, and +finally the arch-heretic herself was sent for and her examination +lasted two days. In the dialogue with Winthrop which began the +proceedings, Mrs. Hutchinson had decidedly the best of the +controversy; and Winthrop himself confesses that "she knew when to +speak and when to hold her tongue." The evidence failed wretchedly +upon the main charge, which was that Mrs. Hutchinson alleged that all +the ministers in Massachusetts except Mr. Cotton preached "a covenant +of works." On the contrary, by her own evidence and that of Mr. Cotton +and Mr. Leverett, it appeared that Mrs. Hutchinson had said that "they +did not preach a covenant of grace as clearly as Mr. Cotton did," +which was probably very true.[16] + +Her condemnation was a matter of course, and at the end of two days +the court banished her from the colony; but as it was winter she was +committed to the temporary care of Mr. Joseph Welde, of Roxbury, +brother of the Rev. Thomas Welde, who afterwards wrote a rancorous +account of these difficulties, entitled _A Short Story_. While in his +house, Mrs. Hutchinson was subjected to many exhortations by anxious +elders, till her spirits sank under the trial and she made a +retraction. Nevertheless, it was not as full as her tormentors +desired, and the added penalty of dismissal from church was imposed. +After her excommunication her spirits revived, "and she gloried in her +condemnation and declared that it was the greatest happiness next to +Christ that ever befell her." + +In this affair Winthrop acted as prosecutor and judge. Before the +spring had well set in he sent word to Mrs. Hutchinson to depart from +the colony. Accordingly, March 28, 1638, she went by water to her farm +at Mount Wollaston (now Quincy), intending to join Mr. Wheelwright, +who had gone to Piscataqua, in Maine, but she changed her mind and +went by land to the settlement of Roger Williams at Providence, and +thence to the island of Aquidneck, where she joined her husband and +other friends.[17] + +Such was the so-called Antinomian controversy in Massachusetts, and +its ending had a far-reaching effect upon the fortunes of the colony. +The suppression of Mrs. Hutchinson and her friends produced what +Winthrop and the rest evidently desired--peace--a long peace. For +fifty years the commonwealth was free from any great religious +agitations; but this condition of quietude, being purchased at the +price of free speech and free conscience, discouraged all literature +except of a theological stamp, and confirmed the aristocratic +character of the government. As one of its mouth-pieces, Rev. Samuel +Stone, remarked, New England Congregationalism continued till the +close of the century "a speaking aristocracy in the face of a silent +democracy."[18] The intense practical character of the people saved +the colony, which, despite the theocratic government, maintained a +vigorous life in politics, business, and domestic economy. + +[Footnote 1: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 70, 81, 113, 179, 185; _Cal. +of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 180.] + +[Footnote 2: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 49, 63.] + +[Footnote 3: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 370; Hubbard, _New +England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, V.), 203.] + +[Footnote 4: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 145, 147.] + +[Footnote 5: Eggleston, _Beginners of a Nation_, 282.] + +[Footnote 6: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 163, 166, 180.] + +[Footnote 7: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 188, 193, 198, 204, 209, +210.] + +[Footnote 8: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 1st series, I., 276.] + +[Footnote 9: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 144.] + +[Footnote 10: Adams, _Three Episodes of Mass. Hist_., I., 339.] + +[Footnote 11: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 239; Hutchinson, +_Massachusetts Bay_, I., 435.] + +[Footnote 12: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 240-255; _Mass. Col. +Records_, I., 185.] + +[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 256-263.] + +[Footnote 14: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 261-288.] + +[Footnote 15: Ibid., 291-296.] + +[Footnote 16: Hutchinson, _Massachusetts Bay_, II., 423-447.] + +[Footnote 17: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 296-312.] + +[Footnote 18: Adams, _Massachusetts: Its Historians and its History_, +57.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +NARRAGANSETT AND CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENTS + +(1635-1637) + + +The island of Aquidneck, to which Mrs. Hutchinson retired, was secured +from Canonicus and Miantonomoh, the sachems of the Narragansetts, +through the good offices of Roger Williams, by John Clarke, William +Coddington, and other leaders of her faction, a short time preceding +her banishment, after a winter spent in Maine, where the climate +proved too cold for them.[1] The place of settlement was at the +northeastern corner of the island, and was known first by its Indian +name of Pocasset and afterwards as Portsmouth. The first settlers, +nineteen in number, constituted themselves a body politic and elected +William Coddington as executive magistrate, with the title of chief +judge, and William Aspinwall as secretary.[2] Other emigrants swelled +the number, till in 1639 a new settlement at the southern part of the +island, called Newport, resulted through the secession of a part of +the settlers headed by Coddington. For more than a year the two +settlements remained separate, but in March, 1640, they were formally +united.[3] Settlers flocked to these parts, and in 1644 the Indian +name of Aquidneck was changed to Rhode Island.[4] + +Not less flourishing was Roger Williams's settlement of Providence on +the main-land. In the summer of 1640 Patuxet was marked off as a +separate township;[5] and in 1643 Samuel Gorton and others, fleeing +from the wrath of Massachusetts, made a settlement called Shawomet, or +Warwick, about twelve miles distant from Providence. + +The tendency of these various towns was to combine in a commonwealth, +but on account of their separate origin the process of union was slow. +The source of most of their trouble in their infancy was the grasping +policy of Massachusetts. Next to heretics in the bosom of the +commonwealth heretic neighbors were especially abhorrent. When in 1640 +the magistrates of Connecticut and New Haven addressed a joint letter +to the general court of Massachusetts, and the citizens of Aquidneck +ventured to join in it, Massachusetts arrogantly excluded the +representation of Aquidneck from their reply as "men not fit to be +capitulated withal by us either for themselves or for the people of +the isle where they inhabit."[6] And neither in 1644 nor in 1648 would +Massachusetts listen to the appeal of the Rhode-Islanders to be +admitted into the confederacy of the New England colonies.[7] + +The desire of Massachusetts appeared to be to hold the heretics and +their new country under a kind of personal and territorial vassalage, +as was interestingly shown in the case of Mrs. Hutchinson and Samuel +Gorton. Despite her banishment and excommunication the church at +Boston seemed to consider it a duty to keep a paternal eye on Mrs. +Hutchinson; and not long after her settlement at Portsmouth sent an +embassy to interview her and obtain, if possible, a submission and +profession of repentance. + +The bearers of this message met with an apt reception and returned +very much disconcerted. They found Mrs. Hutchinson, and declared that +they came as messengers from the church of Boston, but she replied +that she knew only the church of Christ and recognized no such church +as "the church of Boston." Nevertheless, she continued to be annoyed +with messages from Boston till, in order to be quiet and out of reach, +she removed to a place very near Hell Gate in the Dutch settlement, +and there, in 1643, she, with most of her family, perished in an +Indian attack.[8] + +The authority of Massachusetts over the banished was not confined to +religious exhortations. Samuel Gorton, a great friend of Mrs. +Hutchinson, was in many respects one of the most interesting +characters in early New England history. This man had a most +pertinacious regard for his private rights, and at Plymouth, +Portsmouth, and Providence his career of trouble was very much the +same. But he was not an ordinary law-breaker, and in Providence, in +1641, Gorton and his friends refused to submit to a distress ordained +by the magistrates, for the reason that these magistrates, having no +charter, had no better authority to make laws than any private +person.[9] + +The next year, 1642, thirteen citizens of Providence petitioned Boston +for assistance and protection against him; and not long after, four of +the petitioners submitted their persons and lands to the authority of +Massachusetts.[10] Although to accept this submission was to step +beyond their bounds under the Massachusetts charter, the authorities +at Boston, in October, 1642, gave a formal notice of their intention +to maintain the claim of the submissionists.[11] To this notice Gorton +replied, November 20, 1642, in a letter full of abstruse theology and +rancorous invective. + +Nevertheless, he and his party left Patuxet and removed to Shawomet, a +tract beyond the limits of Providence, and purchased in January, 1643, +from Miantonomoh, the great sachem of the Narragansetts.[12] Gorton's +letter had secured for him the thorough hatred of the authorities in +Massachusetts, and his removal by no means ended their interference. +The right of Miantonomoh to make sale to Gorton was denied by two +local sachems; and Massachusetts coming to their support, Gorton was +formally summoned, in September, 1643, to appear before the court of +Boston to answer the complaint of the sachems for trespass.[13] Gorton +and his friends returned a contemptuous reply, and as he continued to +deny the right of Massachusetts to interfere, the Boston government +prepared to send an armed force against him.[14] + +In the mean time, a terrible fate overtook the friend and ally of +Gorton, Miantonomoh, at the hands of his neighbors in the west, the +Mohegans, whose chief, Uncas, attacked one of Miantonomoh's +subordinate chiefs; Miantonomoh accepted the war, was defeated, and +captured by Uncas. Gorton interfered by letter to save his friend, and +Uncas referred the question of Miantonomoh's fate to the federal +commissioners at Boston. The elders were clamorous for the death +penalty, but the commissioners admitting that "there was no sufficient +ground for us to put him to death," agreed to deliver the unhappy +chieftain to Uncas, with permission to kill him as soon as he came +within Uncas's jurisdiction. Accordingly, Miantonomoh was slaughtered +by his enemy, who cut out a warm slice from his shoulder and declared +it the sweetest morsel he had ever tasted and that it gave strength to +his heart.[15] Thus fell Miantonomoh, the circumstances of whose death +were "not at all creditable to the federal commissioners and their +clerical advisers."[16] + +Massachusetts sent out an armed force against the Gortonists, and +after some resistance the leaders were captured and brought to Boston. +Here Wilson and other ministers urged the death penalty upon the +"blasphemous heretics." But the civil authorities were not prepared to +go so far, and in October, 1643, adopted the alternative of +imprisonment. In March, 1644, Gorton and his friends were liberated, +but banished on pain of death from all places claimed to be within the +jurisdiction of Massachusetts. + +They departed to Shawomet, but Governor Winthrop forbade them to stay +there; and in April, 1644, Gorton and his friends once more sought +refuge at Aquidneck.[17] Gorton, having contrived to reach England, +returned in May, 1648, with an order from the Parliamentary +commissioners for plantations, directed to the authorities of +Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut, to permit him and his +friends to reside in peace at Warwick, which they were then permitted +to do.[18] In 1652 Gorton became president of Providence and +Warwick.[19] + +In December, 1643, the agents of Massachusetts in England obtained +from the Parliamentary commissioners for plantations a grant of all +the main-land in Massachusetts Bay; and it appeared for the moment as +if it were all over with the independence of the Rhode Island towns. +Fortunately, Williams was in England at the time, and with indomitable +energy he set to work to counteract the danger. + +In less than three months he persuaded the same commissioners to +issue, March 14, 1644, a second instrument[20] incorporating the towns +of "Providence Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay in New England," +and (in flat contradiction of the earlier grant to Massachusetts) +giving them "the Tract of Land in the Continent of America called by +the name of Narragansett Bay, bordering Northward and Northeast on the +patent of the Massachusetts, East and Southeast on Plymouth Patent, +South on the Ocean, and on the West and Northwest by the Indians +called Nahigganeucks, alias Narregansets--the whole Tract extending +about twenty-five English miles unto the Pequot River and Country." +The charter contained no mention of religion or citizenship, though it +gave the inhabitants full power "to rule themselves and such others as +shall hereafter inhabit within any Part of the said Tract, by such a +Form of Civil Government, as by voluntary consent of all, or the +greater Parte of them, they shall find most suitable to their Estate +and Condition." + +Williams returned to America in September, 1644. On account of the +unfriendly disposition of Massachusetts he was compelled, when leaving +for England, to take his departure from the Dutch port of New +Amsterdam. Now, like one vindicated in name and character, he landed +in Boston, and, protected by a letter[21] from "divers Lords and +others of the Parliament," passed unmolested through Massachusetts, +and reached Providence by the same route which, as a homeless +wanderer, he had pursued eight years before. It is said that at +Seekonk he was met by fourteen canoes filled with people, who escorted +him across the water to Providence with shouts of triumph.[22] + +Peace and union, however, did not at once flow from the labors of +Williams. The hostility of Massachusetts and Plymouth towards the +Rhode-Islanders seemed at first increased; and the principle of +self-government, to which the Rhode Island townships owed their +existence, delayed their confederation. At last, in May, 1647, an +assembly of freemen from the four towns of Portsmouth, Newport, +Providence, and Warwick met at Portsmouth, and proceeded to make laws +in the name of the whole body politic, incorporated under the charter. +The first president was John Coggeshall; and Roger Williams and +William Coddington were two of the first assistants. + +Massachusetts, aided by the Plymouth colony, still continued her +machinations, and an ally was found in Rhode Island itself in the +person of William Coddington. In 1650 he went to England and obtained +an order, dated April 3, 1651, for the severance of the island from +the main-land settlements.[23] Fortunately, however, for the +preservation of Rhode Island unity, an act of intemperate bigotry on +the part of Massachusetts saved the state from Coddington's +interference. + +The sect called Anabaptists, or Baptists, opposed to infant baptism, +made their appearance in New England soon after the banishment of Mrs. +Hutchinson. Rhode Island became a stronghold for them, and in 1638 +Roger Williams adopted their tenets and was rebaptized.[24] In 1644 a +Baptist church was established at Newport.[25] The same year +Massachusetts passed a law decreeing banishment of all professors of +the new opinions.[26] In October, 1650, three prominent Baptists, John +Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandall, visited Massachusetts, when +they were seized, whipped, fined, imprisoned, and barely escaped with +their lives.[27] + +The alarm created in Rhode Island by these proceedings brought the +towns once more into a common policy, and Clarke and Williams were +sent to England to undo the work of Coddington. Aided by the warm +friendship of Sir Harry Vane, the efforts of the agents were crowned +with success. Coddington's commission was revoked by an order of +council in September, 1652, and the townships were directed to unite +under the charter of 1644.[28] Coddington did not at once submit, and +there was a good deal of dissension in the Rhode Island towns till +June, 1654, when Williams returned from England. Then Coddington +yielded,[29] and, August 31, commissioners from the four towns voted +to restore the government constituted seven years before. The +consolidation of Rhode Island was perfected when, in 1658, +Massachusetts released her claims to jurisdiction there.[30] + +Liberty of conscience as asserted by Roger Williams did not involve +the abrogation of civil restraint, and when one William Harris +disturbed the peace in 1656, by asserting this doctrine in a +pamphlet,[31] Williams, then governor, had a warrant issued for his +apprehension. When, in 1658, Williams retired to private life the +possibility of founding a state in which "religious freedom and civil +order could stand together" was fully proved to the world.[32] + +Besides the Indian power, as many as six independent jurisdictions +existed originally in the present state of Connecticut. (1) The Dutch +fort of "Good Hope," established in 1633, on the Connecticut River, +had jurisdiction over a small area of country. (2) The Plymouth colony +owned some territory on the Connecticut River and built a fort there +soon after the Dutch came. (3) Next was the jurisdiction of Fort +Saybrook, the sole evidence of possession on the part of the holders +of a patent from the earl of Warwick, president of the Council for New +England, who claimed to own the whole of Connecticut. (4) A much +larger jurisdiction was that of the Connecticut River towns, settled +in 1635-1636, contemporaneously with the banishment of Roger Williams. +(5) New Haven was settled in 1638, in the height of the Antinomian +difficulties. (6) A claim was advanced by the marquis of Hamilton for +a tract of land running from the mouth of the Connecticut River to +Narragansett Bay, assigned to him in the division of 1635, but it did +not become a disturbing factor till 1665. + +The early relations between the Dutch and English colonies were, as we +have seen, characterized by kindness and good-fellowship. The Dutch +advised the Plymouth settlers to remove from their "present barren +quarters," and commended to them the valley of the "Fresh River" +(Connecticut), referring to it as a fine place both for plantation and +trade.[33] Afterwards, some Mohegan Indians visiting Plymouth in 1631 +made similar representations. Their chief, Uncas, an able, +unscrupulous, and ambitious savage, made it his great ambition to +attain the headship of his aggressive western neighbors, the Pequots. +The only result had been to turn the resentment of the Pequots against +himself; and he sought the protection of the Plymouth government by +encouraging them to plant a settlement on the Connecticut in his own +neighborhood.[34] + +These persuasions had at length some effect, and in 1632 Edward +Winslow, being sent in a bark to examine the river, reported the +country as conforming in every respect to the account given of it by +the Dutch and the Indians.[35] Meanwhile, the Indians, not liking the +delay, visited Boston and tried to induce the authorities there to +send out a colony, but, though Governor Winthrop received them +politely, he dismissed them without the hoped-for assistance.[36] + +In July, 1633, Bradford and Winslow made a special visit to Boston to +discuss the plan of a joint trading-post, but they did not receive +much encouragement. Winthrop and his council suggested various +objections: the impediments to commerce due to the sand-bar at the +mouth; the long continuance of ice in spring, and the multitude of +Indians in the neighborhood. But it seems likely that these +allegations were pretexts, since we read in Winthrop's _Journal_ that +in September, 1633, a bark was sent from Boston to Connecticut; and +John Oldham, with three others, set out from Watertown overland to +explore the river.[37] + +Plymouth determined to wait no longer, and in October, 1633, sent a +vessel, commanded by William Holmes, with workmen and the frame of a +building for a trading-post. When they arrived in the river, they were +surprised to find other Europeans in possession. The Dutch, aroused +from their dream of security by the growth of the English settlement, +made haste in the June previous to purchase from the Indians twenty +acres where Hartford now stands, upon which they built a fort a short +time after. When the vessel bearing the Plymouth traders reached this +point in the river, the Dutch commander, John van Curler, commanded +Holmes to stop and strike his flag. But Holmes, paying little +attention to the threats of the Dutchman, continued his voyage and +established a rival post ten miles above, at a place now known as +Windsor.[38] + +Meanwhile, the ship which Winthrop sent to Connecticut went onward to +New Netherland, where the captain notified Governor Van Twiller, in +Winthrop's name, that the English had a royal grant to the territory +about the Connecticut River. It returned to Boston in October, 1633, +and brought a reply from Van Twiller that the Dutch had also a claim +under a grant from their States-General of Holland.[39] In December, +1633, Van Twiller heard of Holmes's trading-post and despatched an +armed force of seventy men to expel the intruders. They appeared +before the fort with colors flying, but finding that Holmes had +received reinforcements, and that it would be impossible to dislodge +him without bloodshed, they returned home without molesting him.[40] + +The Plymouth settlers were destined to be dispossessed, not by the +Dutch, but by their own countrymen. The people of Massachusetts were +now fully aroused, and the news that came to Boston in the summer of +1634 that the small-pox had practically destroyed the Indians on the +river increased "the hankering" after the coveted territory.[41] The +people of Watertown, Dorchester, and Newtown (Cambridge) had long been +restless under the Massachusetts authority, and were anxious for a +change. Dorchester was the residence of Captain Israel Stoughton, and +Watertown the residence of Richard Brown and John Oldham, all three of +whom had been under the ban of the orthodox Puritan church. At +Watertown also had sprung up the first decided opposition to the +aristocratic claim of the court of assistants to lay taxes on the +people. As for Newtown (now Cambridge), its inhabitants could not +forget that, though selected in the first instance as the capital of +the colony, it had afterwards been discarded for the town of Boston. + +In all three towns there was a pressure for arable lands and more or +less jealousy among the ministers. Some dissatisfaction also with the +requirement in Massachusetts of church-membership for the suffrage may +have been among the motives for seeking a new home. At the head of the +movement was the Rev. Thomas Hooker, a graduate of Emmanuel College, +Cambridge, who had lived in Holland, and while there had imbibed a +greater share of liberality than was to be found among most of the +clergy of Massachusetts. Cotton declared that democracy was "no fit +government either for church or commonwealth," and the majority of the +ministers agreed with him. Winthrop defended his view in a letter to +Hooker on the ground that "the best part is always the least, and of +that best part the wiser part is always the lesser." But Hooker +replied that "in matters which concern the common good a general +council, chosen by all, to transact business which concerns all, I +conceive most suitable to rule and most safe for the relief of the +whole." + +Hooker arrived in the colony in September, 1633,[42] and in May, 1634, +at the first annual general court after his arrival, his congregation +at Newtown petitioned to be permitted to move to some other quarters +within the bounds of Massachusetts.[43] The application was granted, +and messengers were sent to Agawam and Merrimac to look for a suitable +location.[44] After this, when the epidemic on the Connecticut became +known, a petition to be permitted to move out of the Massachusetts +jurisdiction was presented to the general court in September, 1634. +This raised a serious debate, and though there can be little doubt +that Winthrop and the other leaders in Massachusetts shrewdly +cherished the idea of pre-empting in some way the trade of the +Connecticut, against both the Plymouth people and the Dutch, an +emigration such as was proposed appeared too much like a desertion. +The fear of the appointment by the crown of a governor-general for New +England was at its height, and so the application, though it met with +favor from the majority of the deputies, was rejected by the court of +assistants.[45] + +The popularity of the measure, however, increased mightily, and there +is a tradition that in the winter of 1634-1635 some persons from +Watertown went to Connecticut and managed to survive the winter in a +few huts erected at Pyquag, afterwards Wethersfield.[46] The next +spring the Watertown and Dorchester people imitated the Newtown +congregation in applying to the general court for permission to +remove. They were more successful, and were given liberty to go to any +place, even outside of Massachusetts, provided they continued under +the Massachusetts authority.[47] + +Then began a lively movement, and Jonathan Brewster, in a letter +written from the Plymouth fort at Windsor in July, 1635, tells of the +daily arrival by land and water of small parties of these adventurous +settlers. Their presence around the fort caused Brewster much +uneasiness, since some began to cast covetous eyes upon the very spot +which the Plymouth government had bought from the Mohegans and held +against the Dutch. + +As their numbers grew their confidence increased; and finally the men +of Dorchester, headed by Roger Ludlow, one of the richest men in +Massachusetts, pretending that the land was theirs as the "Lord's +waste," upon which "the providence of God" had cast them, intruded +themselves into the actual midst of the Plymouth people. The emigrants +from Plymouth protested, but were finally glad to accept a compromise, +though, as Bradford remarks, "the unkindness was not soon forgotten." +The Massachusetts settlers held on to fifteen-sixteenths of the land, +while they magnanimously conceded to the Plymouth people +one-sixteenth, in addition to their block-houses.[48] + +The emigration in the summer of 1635 was preliminary to a much larger +exodus in the fall. In October a company of about sixty men, women, +and children, driving before them their cows, horses, and swine, set +out by land and reached the Connecticut "after a tedious and difficult +journey";[49] but the winter set in very early, and the vessels which +were to bring their provisions by water not appearing, they were +forced to leave their settlement for fear of famine. They were +fortunate to find a ship frozen up in the river, which they freed from +the ice and used to return to Boston. The other settlers who remained +upon the river suffered very much, and were finally reduced to the +necessity of eating acorns and ground-nuts, which they dug out of the +snow. A great number of the cattle perished, and the Dorchester +Company "lost near L2000 worth."[50] + +These calamities were soon forgotten; and as soon as the first flowers +of spring suggested the end of the dreary winter season, the Newtown +people prepared to move. Selling their lands on the Charles River to +the congregation of Rev. Thomas Shepard, the whole body, in June, +1636, emigrated through the green woods, musical with birds and bright +with flowers, under the leadership of their two eminent ministers, +Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone.[51] Among the lay members of the +community were Stephen Hart, Thomas Bull, and Richard Lord.[52] A +little later the churches of Dorchester and Watertown completed their +removal, while a settlement was made by emigrants from Roxbury under +William Pynchon at Agawam, afterwards Springfield, just north of the +boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut.[53] + +At the beginning of the winter of 1636-1637 about eight hundred people +were established in three townships below Springfield. These townships +were first called after the towns from which their inhabitants +removed--Newtown, Watertown, and Dorchester; but in February, 1637, +their names were changed to Hartford, Wethersfield, and Windsor. The +settlements well illustrate the general type of New England +colonization. The emigration from Massachusetts was not of +individuals, but of organized communities united in allegiance to a +church and its pastor. Carrying provisions and supplies, erecting new +villages, as communities they came from England to Massachusetts, and +in that character the people emigrated to Connecticut. + +In the mean time, the silence of the Connecticut woods was broken by +other visitors. The lands occupied by the Massachusetts settlers upon +the Connecticut lay within a grant executed March 19, 1631, by the +earl of Warwick, as president of the Council for New England for "all +that part of New England in America which lies and extends itself from +a river there called Narragansett River, the space of forty leagues +upon a straight line near the seashore towards the southwest, west, +and by south, or west, as the coast lieth towards Virginia, accounting +three English miles to the league; and also all and singular the lands +and hereditaments whatsoever, lying and being within the lands +aforesaid, north and south in latitude and breadth, and in length and +longitude of and within, all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the +main-lands there, from the western ocean to the south sea." The +grantees included Lord Say and Sele, Lord Brooke, and Sir Richard +Saltonstall.[54] + +Probably some report of the unauthorized colonies reached them and +hastened Saltonstall to send out a party of twenty men in July, 1635, +to plant a settlement on the Connecticut. But the Dorchester settlers +treated them with even less consideration than they had the Plymouth +men. They set upon them and drove them out of the river.[55] Then, in +October, 1635, John Winthrop, Jr., the eldest son of John Winthrop of +Massachusetts, came from England with a commission to be governor of +the "river Connecticut in New England" for the space of one year.[56] + +He was, however, a governor in theory, and made but one substantial +contribution to the permanent possession of Connecticut by the +English. In November, 1635, he erected at the mouth of the river a +fort called after Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brooke--Saybrook--which +in the spring of 1636 he placed under the command of Lyon Gardiner, an +expert military engineer, who had seen much service in the +Netherlands.[57] Hardly had the English mounted two cannon on their +slight fortification when a Dutch vessel sent from New Amsterdam on a +sudden errand arrived in the river. Finding themselves anticipated, +the Dutch returned home, and the scheme of cutting off the English +settlements on the upper Connecticut from the rest of New England was +frustrated.[58] + +For a year the towns on the Connecticut, including Springfield, were +governed by a commission issued by the general court of Massachusetts, +in concert with John Winthrop, Jr., as a representative of the +patentees.[59] When the year expired the commission was not renewed, +but a general court representing the three towns of Massachusetts and +consisting of six assistants and nine delegates, three for each town, +was held at Hartford in May, 1637. They became from this time a +self-governing community under the name of Connecticut, and the union +happened just in time to be of much service in repelling a great +danger. + +[Footnote 1: Clarke, _Ill Newes from New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 4th series, II., 1-113).] + +[Footnote 2: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 52.] + +[Footnote 3: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 87, 100, 108.] + +[Footnote 4: Ibid., 127. In 1614 the Dutch navigator Adrian Block gave +to the country of Narragansett Bay the name of Rhode Island--the Red +Island--because of the red clay in some portions of its shores.] + +[Footnote 5: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 27.] + +[Footnote 6: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 24; _Mass. Col. Records_, +I., 305.] + +[Footnote 7: _Plymouth Col. Records_, IX., 23, 110.] + +[Footnote 8: Sparks, _American Biographies_, VI., 333, 352; Arnold, +_Rhode Island_, I., 66, n.] + +[Footnote 9: Sparks, _American Biographies_, V., 326-340.] + +[Footnote 10: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 71.] + +[Footnote 11: Ibid., 102; _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 22.] + +[Footnote 12: _Simplicities Defence Against Seven-Headed Policy_ +(Force, Tracts, IV., No. vi.), 24.] + +[Footnote 13: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 40, 41.] + +[Footnote 14: _Simplicities Defence_.] + +[Footnote 15: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 157-162; _Acts of the +Federal Commissioners_, I., 10-12.] + +[Footnote 16: Fiske, _Beginnings of New England_, 171.] + +[Footnote 17: _Simplicities Defence_ (Force, _Tracts_, IV., No. vi.), +86; Winthrop, _New England_, II., 165, 188.] + +[Footnote 18: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 387-390.] + +[Footnote 19: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 241.] + +[Footnote 20: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 325.] + +[Footnote 21: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 236.] + +[Footnote 22: Richard Scott's letter, in Fox, _New England Fire Brand +Quenched_, App.] + +[Footnote 23: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 354.] + +[Footnote 24: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 352.] + +[Footnote 25: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 346.] + +[Footnote 26: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 85.] + +[Footnote 27: Clarke, _Ill Newes from New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 4th series, II., 1-113).] + +[Footnote 28: Backus, _New England_, I., 277.] + +[Footnote 29: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 328.] + +[Footnote 30: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 333.] + +[Footnote 31: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 364.] + +[Footnote 32: Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 319.] + +[Footnote 33: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 370, 371.] + +[Footnote 34: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 41.] + +[Footnote 35: Ibid., 31; Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 371.] + +[Footnote 36: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 62.] + +[Footnote 37: Ibid., 132, 162.] + +[Footnote 38: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 373; Brodhead, _New +York_, I., 241.] + +[Footnote 39: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 133.] + +[Footnote 40: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 373; Brodhead, _New +York_, I., 242.] + +[Footnote 41: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 388, 402.] + +[Footnote 42: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 129.] + +[Footnote 43: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 119.] + +[Footnote 44: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 159.] + +[Footnote 45: Ibid., 167.] + +[Footnote 46: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 59.] + +[Footnote 47: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 146.] + +[Footnote 48: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 402-406.] + +[Footnote 49: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 204.] + +[Footnote 50: Ibid., 208, 219.] + +[Footnote 51: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 223.] + +[Footnote 52: Trumbull, _Memorial History of Hartford County_.] + +[Footnote 53: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 454.] + +[Footnote 54: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 495.] + +[Footnote 55: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, VI., 579.] + +[Footnote 56: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 497.] + +[Footnote 57: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 207.] + +[Footnote 58: Brodhead, _New York_, I., 260.] + +[Footnote 59: _Mass, Col. Records_, I., 170.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FOUNDING OF CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN + +(1637-1652) + + +The establishment of the new settlements on the Connecticut projected +the whites into the immediate neighborhood of two powerful and warlike +Indian nations--the Narragansetts in Rhode Island and the Pequots in +Connecticut. With the first named there existed friendly relations, +due to the politic conduct of Roger Williams, who always treated the +Indians kindly. With the latter, conditions from the first were very +threatening. + +As early as the summer of 1633, Stone, a reckless ship-captain from +Virginia, and eight of his companions, were slain in the Connecticut +River by some Pequots. When called to account by Governor Winthrop of +Massachusetts, the Indians justified themselves on the ground that +Stone was the aggressor. Thereupon Winthrop desisted, and referred the +matter to the Virginia authorities.[1] In 1634, when the settlements +were forming on the Connecticut, a fresh irritation was caused by the +course of the emigrants in negotiating for their lands with the +Mohegan chiefs instead of with the Pequots, the lords paramount of the +soil. + +The Pequots were greatly embarrassed at the time by threatened +hostilities with the Narragansetts and the Dutch, and in November, +1634, they became reduced to the necessity of seeking the alliance of +the Massachusetts colony. That authority inopportunely revived the +question of Stone's death and required the Pequots to deliver annually +a heavy tribute of wampum as the price of their forgiveness and +protection.[2] Had the object of the Massachusetts people been to +promote bad feeling, no better method than this could have been +adopted. + +In July, 1636, John Oldham, who had been appointed collector of the +tribute from the Pequots, was killed off Block Island by some of the +Indians of the island who were subject to the Narragansett tribe.[3] +Although the Pequots had nothing whatever to do with this affair, the +Massachusetts government, under Harry Vane, sent a force against them, +commanded by John Endicott. After stopping at Block Island and +destroying some Indian houses, he proceeded to the main-land to make +war on the Pequots, but beyond burning some wigwams and seizing some +corn he accomplished very little. + +The action of Massachusetts was heartily condemned by the Plymouth +colony and the settlers on the Connecticut, and Gardiner, the +commander of the Saybrook fort, bluntly told Endicott that the +proceedings were outrageous and would serve only to bring the Indians +"like wasps about his ears." His prediction came true, and during the +winter Gardiner and his few men at the mouth of the river were +repeatedly assailed by parties of Indians, who boasted that +"Englishmen were as easy to kill as mosquitoes."[4] + +Danger was now imminent, especially to the infant settlements up the +river. For the moment it seemed as if the English had brought upon +themselves the united power of all the Indians of the country. The +Pequots sent messengers to patch up peace with their enemies, the +Narragansetts, and tried to induce them to take up arms against the +English. They would have probably succeeded but for the influence of +Roger Williams with the Narragansett chiefs. In this crisis the +friendship of Governor Vane for the banished champion of religious +liberty was used to good effect. To gratify the governor and his +council at Boston, Williams, at the risk of his life, sought the +wigwams of Canonicus and Miantonomoh, and "broke to pieces the Pequot +negotiations and design."[5] Instead of accepting the overtures of the +Pequots, the Narragansetts sent Miantonomoh and the two sons of +Canonicus to Boston to make an alliance with the whites.[6] + +In the spring of 1637 the war burst with fury. Wethersfield was first +attacked at the instance of an Indian who had sold his lands and could +not obtain the promised payment. In revenge he secretly instigated the +Pequots to attack the place, and they killed a woman, a child, and +some men, besides some cattle; and took captive two young women, who +were preserved by the squaw of Mononotto, a Pequot sachem, and, +through the Dutch, finally restored to their friends.[7] + +By May, 1637, when the first general court of Connecticut convened at +Hartford, upward of thirty persons had fallen beneath the tomahawk. +The promptest measures were necessary; and without waiting for the +assistance of Massachusetts, whose indiscretion had brought on the +war, ninety men (nearly half the effective force of the colony) were +raised,[8] and placed under the command of Captain John Mason, an +officer who had served in the Netherlands under Sir Thomas Fairfax. +The force sailed down the river in three small vessels, and were +welcomed at Fort Saybrook by Lieutenant Gardiner. + +The Indian fort was situated in a swamp to the east of the Connecticut +on the Mystic River; but instead of landing at the Pequot River, as he +had been ordered, Mason completely deceived the Indian spies by +sailing past it away from the intended prey. Near Point Judith, +however, in the Narragansett country, Mason disembarked his men; and, +accompanied by eighty Mohegans and two hundred Narragansetts, turned +on his path and marched by land westward towards the Pequot country. +So secretly and swiftly was this movement executed that the Indian +fort was surrounded and approached within a few feet before the +Indians took alarm.[9] + +The victory of Mason was a massacre, the most complete in the annals +of colonial history. The English threw firebrands among the wigwams, +and in the flames men, women, and children were roasted to death. +Captain Underhill, who was present, wrote that "there were about four +hundred souls in this fort, and not above five of them escaped out of +our hands." Only two white men were killed, though a number received +arrow wounds.[10] + +Mason, as he went to the Pequot harbor to meet his vessels, met a +party of three hundred Indians half frantic with grief over the +destruction of their countrymen, but contented himself with repelling +their attack. Finally, he reached the ships, where he found Captain +Patrick and forty men come from Massachusetts to reinforce him. +Placing his sick men on board to be taken back by water, Mason crossed +the Pequot River and marched by land to Fort Saybrook, where they were +"nobly entertained by Lieutenant Gardiner with many great guns," and +there they rested the Sabbath. The next week they returned home.[11] + +The remnant of the Pequots collected in another fort to the west of +that destroyed by Mason. Attacked by red men and white men alike, most +of them formed the desperate resolve of taking refuge with the Mohawks +across the Hudson. They were pursued by Mason with forty soldiers, +joined by one hundred and twenty from Massachusetts under Captain +Israel Stoughton. A party of three hundred Indians were overtaken and +attacked in a swamp near New Haven, and many were captured or put to +death. Sassacus, the Pequot chief, of whom the Narragansetts had such +a dread as to say of him, "Sassacus is all one God; no man can kill +him," contrived to reach the Mohawks, but they cut off his head and +sent it as a present to the English.[12] + +The destruction of the Pequots as a nation was complete. All the +captive men, women, and children were made slaves, some being kept in +New England and others sent to the West Indies,[13] and there remained +at large in Connecticut not over two hundred Pequots. September 21, +1638, a treaty was negotiated between the Connecticut delegates and +the Narragansetts and Mohegans, by the terms of which the Pequot +country became the property of the Connecticut towns, while one +hundred Pequots were given to Uncas, and one hundred to Miantonomoh +and Ninigret, his ally, to be incorporated with their tribes.[14] + +So far as the whites of Connecticut were concerned the effect of the +war was to remove all real danger from Indians for a period of forty +years. Not till the Indians became trained in the use of fire-arms +were they again matched against the whites on anything like equal +terms. Among the Indian tribes, the result of the Pequot War was to +elevate Uncas and his Mohegans into a position of rivals of +Miantonomoh, and his Narragansetts, with the result of the overthrow +and death of Miantonomoh. In the subsequent years war broke out +several times, but by the intervention of the federal commissioners, +who bolstered up Uncas, hostilities did not proceed. + +On the conclusion of the Pequot War the freemen of the three towns +upon the Connecticut convened at Hartford, January 14, 1639, and +adopted "the Fundamental Orders," a constitution which has been justly +pronounced the first written constitution framed by a community, +through its own representatives, as a basis for government. This +constitution contained no recognition whatever of any superior +authority in England, and provided[15] that the freemen were to hold +two general meetings a year, at one of which they were to elect the +governor and assistants, who, with four deputies from each town, were +to constitute a general court "to make laws or repeal them, to grant +levies, to admit freemen, to dispose of lands undisposed of to several +towns or persons, call the court or magistrate or any other person +whatsoever into question for any misdemeanor, and to deal in any other +matter that concerned the good of the commonwealth, except election of +magistrates," which was "to be done by the whole body of freemen." + +Till 1645 the deputies voted with the magistrates, but in that year +the general court was divided into two branches as in Massachusetts. +In one particular the constitution was more liberal than the unwritten +constitution of Massachusetts: church-membership was not required as a +condition of the suffrage, and yet in the administration of the +government the theocracy was all-powerful. The settlers of Connecticut +were Puritans of the strictest sect, and in the preamble of their +constitution they avowed their purpose "to maintain and preserve the +liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus, which we now +profess, as also the discipline of the churches, which, according to +the truth of the said gospel, is now practised among us." In 1656 the +law of Connecticut required the applicant for the franchise to be of +"a peaceable and honest conversation," and this was very apt to mean a +church-member in practice. + +No one but a church-member could be elected governor, and in choosing +assistants the vote was taken upon each assistant in turn, and he had +to be voted out before any nomination could be made.[16] In none of +the colonies was the tenure of office more constant or persevering. In +a period of about twenty years Haynes was governor eight times and +deputy governor five times, Hopkins was governor six times and deputy +governor five times, while John Winthrop, the younger, served eighteen +years in the chief office. + +The Connecticut government thus formed rapidly extended its +jurisdiction. Although Springfield was conceded to Massachusetts the +loss was made up by the accession, in 1639, of Fairfield and +Stratford, west of New Haven, and, April, 1644, of Southampton, on +Long Island, and about the same time of Farmington, near Hartford. In +1639 a town had been founded at Fort Saybrook by George Fenwick, who +was one of the Connecticut patentees.[17] In the confusion which +ensued in England Fenwick found himself isolated; and, assuming to +himself the ownership of the fort and the neighboring town, he sold +both to Connecticut in 1644, and promised to transfer the rest of the +extensive territory granted to the patentees "if it ever came into his +power to do so."[18] As the Connecticut government was entirely +without any legal warrant from the government of England, this +agreement of Fenwick's was deemed of much value, for it gave the +colony a quasi-legal standing. + +In 1649 East Hampton, on Long Island, was annexed to the colony, and +in 1650 Norwalk was settled. In 1653 Mattabeseck, on the Connecticut, +was named Middletown; and in 1658 Nameaug, at the mouth of the Pequot +River, settled by John Winthrop, Jr., in 1646, became New London. In +1653 Connecticut had twelve towns and seven hundred and seventy-five +persons were taxed in the colony.[19] + +While Connecticut was thus establishing itself, another colony, called +New Haven, controlled by the desire on the part of its leading men to +create a state on a thoroughly theocratic model, grew up opposite to +Long Island. The chief founder of the colony was John Davenport, who +had been a noted minister in London, and with him were associated +Theophilus Eaton, Edward Hopkins, and several other gentlemen of good +estates and very religiously inclined. They reached Boston from +England in July, 1637, when the Antinomian quarrel was at its height, +and Davenport was a member of the synod which devoted most of its time +to the settlement, or rather the aggravation, of the Antinomian +difficulty. + +Owing to Davenport's reputation and the wealth of his principal +friends, the authorities of Massachusetts made every effort to retain +them in that colony, and offered them their choice of a place for +settlement. These persuasions failed, and after a nine months' stay +Davenport and his followers moved away, nominally because they desired +to divert the thoughts of those who were plotting for a general +governor for New England, but really because there were too many +Antinomians in Massachusetts, and the model republic desired by +Davenport could never be brought about by accepting the position of a +subordinate township under the Massachusetts jurisdiction.[20]. + +One of the results of the Pequot War was to make known the country +west of Fort Saybrook, and in the fall of 1637 Theophilus Eaton and +some others went on a trip to explore for themselves the coasts and +lands in that direction. They were so much pleased with what they saw +at "Quinnipiack" that in March, 1638, the whole company left Boston to +take up their residence there, and called their new settlement New +Haven. Soon after their arrival they entered into a "plantation +covenant," preliminary to a more formal engagement.[21] This agreement +pledged the settlers to accept the teachings of Scripture both as a +civil system and religious code. + +Having no charter of any kind, they founded their rights to the soil +on purchases from the Indians, of which they made two (November and +December, 1638).[22] The next summer they proceeded to the solemn work +of a permanent government. June 4, 1639, all the free planters met in +a barn, and Mr. Davenport preached from the text, "Wisdom hath builded +her home; she hath hewn out her seven pillars." He then proposed a +series of resolutions which set forth the purpose of establishing a +state to be conducted strictly according to the rules of Scripture. +When these resolutions were adopted Davenport proposed two others +designed to reduce to practice the theory thus formally approved. It +was now declared that only church-members should have the right of +citizenship, and that a committee of twelve should be appointed to +choose seven others who were to be the constitution-makers.[23] + +These articles were subscribed by one hundred and thirteen of the +people, and after due time for reflection the twelve men chosen as +above elected the "seven pillars," Theophilus Eaton, Esq., John +Davenport, Robert Newman, Matthew Gilbert, Thomas Fugill, John +Punderson, and Jeremiah Dixon, who proceeded in the same solemn and +regular manner to reorganize the church and state. First they set up +the church by associating with themselves nine others, and then after +another interval, on October 25, 1639, a court was held at which the +sixteen church-members proceeded to elect Theophilus Eaton as governor +for a year and four other persons to aid him as "deputies," who were +thereupon addressed by Davenport in what was called a charge. + +Under the government thus formed a general court of the freemen was +held every year for the election of governor and assistants, and to +these officers was confided the entire administration of affairs. +There was no body of statutes till many years later, and during this +time the only restriction on the arbitrary authority of the judges was +the rules of the Mosaic law. The body of the free burgesses was very +cautiously enlarged from court to court. + +Hardly had the people of New Haven settled themselves in their new +government before two other towns, Guilford, seventeen miles north, +and Milford, eleven miles south, sprang up in their neighborhood. +Though practically independent, their constitution was modelled after +that of New Haven.[24] Besides Guilford and Milford another town +called Stamford, lying west of the Connecticut territory and loosely +connected with New Haven, was also settled.[25] In the political +isolation of these towns one sees the principle of church +independence, as held by Davenport and his followers. + +In April, 1643, apprehension from the Indians, the Dutch, and their +neighbor Connecticut caused a union of these towns with New Haven. The +new commonwealth was organized just in time to become a member of the +greater confederation of the colonies founded in May, 1643. It was +not, however, till October 27, 1643, that a general constitution was +agreed upon.[26] It confined the suffrage to church-members and +established three courts--the plantation court for small cases, +consisting of "fitt and able" men in each town; the court of +magistrates, consisting of the governor, deputy governor, and three +assistants for weighty cases; and the general court, consisting of the +magistrates and two deputies for each of the four towns which were to +sit at New Haven twice a year, make the necessary laws for the +confederation, and annually elect the magistrates. Trial by jury was +dispensed with, because no such institution was found in the Mosaic +law. + +In 1649 Southold, on Long Island, and in 1651 Branford, on the +main-land, were admitted as members of the New Haven confederacy; and +in 1656 Greenwich was added. And the seven towns thus comprehended +gave the colony of New Haven the utmost extent it ever obtained. + +[Footnote 1: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 146.] + +[Footnote 2: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 176, 177.] + +[Footnote 3: Ibid., 225, 226; Gardiner, _Pequot Warres_ (Mass. Hist. +Soc., _Collections_, 3d series, III.), 131-160.] + +[Footnote 4: Gardiner, _Pequot Warres_; Winthrop, _New England_, I., +231-233, 238, 259.] + +[Footnote 5: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 1st series, I., 175.] + +[Footnote 6: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 234-236.] + +[Footnote 7: Ibid., 267, 312; Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 2d series, VIII.), 132.] + +[Footnote 8: _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 9.] + +[Footnote 9: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d. +series, VIII.), 134-136.] + +[Footnote 10: Ibid.; Underhill, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., +_Collections_, 3d series, VI.), 25.] + +[Footnote 11: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d +series, III.), 144.] + +[Footnote 12: Ibid.; Winthrop, _New England_, I., 268, 278-281.] + +[Footnote 13: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 92.] + +[Footnote 14: Mason, _Pequot War_ (Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d +series, VIII.), 148.] + +[Footnote 15: _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 20-25, 119.] + +[Footnote 16: The same rule prevailed in Massachusetts. For the +result, see Baldwin, _Early History of the Ballot in Connecticut_ +(Amer. Hist. Assoc. _Papers_, IV.), 81; Perry, _Historical Collections +of the American Colonial Church_, 21; Palfrey, _New England_, II., +10.] + +[Footnote 17: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 368.] + +[Footnote 18: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 507-510.] + +[Footnote 19: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 377.] + +[Footnote 20: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 283, 312, 484.] + +[Footnote 21: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 12.] + +[Footnote 22: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 98.] + +[Footnote 23: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 11-17.] + +[Footnote 24: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 107; Doyle, _English +Colonies_, II., 196.] + +[Footnote 25: _New Haven Col. Records_, I., 69.] + +[Footnote 26: Ibid., 112.] + +[Illustration: MAINE IN 1652] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE + +(1653-1658) + + +After the charter granted to the Council for New England in 1620, Sir +Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason procured, August 10, 1622, a +patent for "all that part of y^e maine land in New England lying vpon +y^e Sea Coast betwixt y^e rivers of Merrimack & Sagadahock and to y^e +furthest heads of y^e said Rivers and soe forwards up into the land +westward untill threescore miles be finished from y^e first entrance +of the aforesaid rivers and half way over that is to say to the midst +of the said two rivers w^ch bounds and limitts the lands aforesaid +togeather w^th all Islands and Isletts w^th in five leagues distance +of y^e premisses and abutting vpon y^e same or any part or parcell +thereoff."[1] + +Mason was a London merchant who had seen service as governor of +Newfoundland, and was, like Gorges, "a man of action." His experience +made him interested in America, and his interest in America caused him +to be elected a member of the Council for New England, and ultimately +its vice-president.[2] The two leaders persuaded various merchants in. +England to join them in their colonial projects; and in the spring of +1623 they set up two settlements within the limits of the present +state of New Hampshire, and some small stations at Saco Bay, Casco +Bay, and Monhegan Island, in the present state of Maine. + +Of the settlements in New Hampshire, one called Piscataqua, at the +mouth of the river of that name, was formed by three Plymouth +merchants, Colmer, Sherwell, and Pomeroy, who chose a Scotchman named +David Thompson as their manager. They obtained a grant, October 16, +1622, for an island, and six thousand acres on the main, near the +mouth of Piscataqua; and here Thompson located in the spring of 1623. +He remained about three years, and in 1626 removed thence to an island +in Boston harbor, where he lived as an independent settler.[3] The +other plantation, called Cocheco, was established by two brothers, +Edward and William Hilton, fish-mongers of London, and some Bristol +merchants, and was situated on the south side of the Piscataqua about +eight miles from the mouth of the river.[4] + +November 7, 1629, Captain Mason obtained a patent[5] from the Council +for New England for a tract extending sixty miles inland and lying +between the Merrimac and Piscataqua rivers, being a part of the +territory granted to Gorges and himself in 1622. He called it New +Hampshire in honor of Hampshire, in England, where he had an estate. +Seven days later the same grantors gave to a company of whom Mason and +Gorges were the most prominent merchants, a patent for the province of +Laconia, describing it as "bordering on the great lake or lakes or +rivers called Iroquois, a nation of savage people inhabiting into the +landward between the rivers Merrimac and Sagadahoc, lying near about +forty-four or forty-five degrees." And in 1631 Gorges, Mason, and +others obtained another grant for twenty thousand acres, which +included the settlement at the mouth of the Piscataqua. + +Under these grants Gorges and Mason spent upward of L3000[6] in making +discoveries and establishing factories for salting fish and fur +trading; but as very little attention was paid to husbandry at either +of the settlements on the Piscataqua, they dragged out for years a +feeble and precarious existence. At Piscataqua, Walter Neal was +governor from 1630 to 1633 and Francis Williams from 1634 to 1642, and +the people were distinctly favorable to the Anglican church. At +Cocheco, Captain Thomas Wiggin was governor in 1631; and when, in +1633, the British merchants sold their share in the plantation to Lord +Say and Sele, Lord Brooke, and two other partners, Wiggin remained +governor, and the transfer was followed by the influx of Puritan +settlers.[7] + +After the Antinomian persecution in Massachusetts some of Mrs. +Hutchinson's followers took refuge at Cocheco, and prominent among +them were Captain John Underhill and Rev. John Wheelwright. Underhill +became governor of the town in 1638, and his year of rule is noted for +dissensions occasioned by the ambitious actions of several +contentious, immoral ministers. Underhill was the central figure in +the disturbances, but at the next election, in 1639, he was defeated +and Roberts was elected governor of Cocheco. Dissensions continued, +however, till in 1640 Francis Williams, governor of Piscataqua, +interfered with an armed force. Underhill returned to Boston, and by +humbly professing repentance for his conduct he was again received +into the church there.[8] He then joined the Dutch, but when +Connecticut and New Haven were clamorous for war with the Dutch in +1653 he plotted against his new master, was imprisoned, and escaped to +Rhode Island,[9] where he received a commission to prey on Dutch +commerce. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Wheelwright left Cocheco, and in 1638 established +southeast of it, at Squamscott Falls, a small settlement which he and +his fellow-colonists called Exeter.[10] In October, 1639, after the +manner of the Rhode Island towns, the inhabitants, thirty-five in +number, entered a civil contract to "submit themselves to such godly +and Christian lawes as are established in the realm of England to our +best knowledge, and to all other such lawes which shall, upon good +ground, be made and enacted among us according to God." This action +was followed in 1641 by their neighbors at Cocheco, where the contract +was subscribed by forty-one settlers; and about the same time, it is +supposed, Piscataqua adopted the same system.[11] + +This change of fishing and trading stations into regular townships was +a marked political advance, but as yet each town was separate and +independent. The next great step was their union under one government, +which was hastened by the action of Massachusetts. In the assertion of +her claim that her northern boundary was a due east and west line +three miles north of the most northerly part of the Merrimac, +Massachusetts as early as 1636 built a house upon certain salt marshes +midway between the Merrimac and Piscataqua. Subsequently, when Mr. +Wheelwright, in 1638, proposed to extend the township of Exeter in +that direction, he was warned off by Governor Winthrop, and in 1641 +Massachusetts settled at the place a colony of emigrants from Norfolk, +in England, and called the town Hampton. + +Massachusetts in a few years took an even more decided step. At +Cocheco, or Dover, as it was now called, where the majority of the +people were Nonconformists, the desire of support from Massachusetts +caused the policy of submission to receive the approval of both +contending parties in town; and in 1639 the settlers made overtures to +Massachusetts for incorporation.[12] The settlers at Piscataqua, or +Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), being Anglicans, were opposed to +incorporation, but submitted from stress of circumstances. After the +death of Captain Mason, in 1635, his widow declined to keep up the +industries established by him, and sent word to his servants at +Strawberry Bank to shift for themselves.[13] + +Several years later Lord Say and Sele and Lord Brooke, who were the +chief owners of Dover, obtained from Mason's merchant partners in +England the title to Strawberry Bank, and being in sympathy with +Massachusetts they offered, in 1641, to resign to her the jurisdiction +of both places. The proposal was promptly accepted, and two +commissioners, Symonds and Bradstreet, went from Massachusetts to +arrange with the inhabitants the terms of incorporation. The towns +were guaranteed their liberties, allowed representation in the +Massachusetts general court, and exempted from the requirements of the +Massachusetts constitution that all voters and officers must be +members of the Congregational church.[14] + +In 1643 Exeter followed the example of Dover and Strawberry Bank by +accepting the protection of Massachusetts, but it thereby lost its +founder. Being under sentence of banishment, Mr. Wheelwright withdrew +to the territory of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, where, having obtained a +patent, he founded the city of Welles. In 1644 he applied to Winthrop, +and was permitted on a slight submission to take charge of the church +at Hampton.[15] After several years he visited England, where he was a +favorite of Cromwell. At the Restoration he returned and settled at +Salisbury, in Massachusetts, where he died in 1679. He is perhaps the +single bright light in the ecclesiastical history of early New +Hampshire.[16] + +The four towns--Dover, Strawberry Bank, Exeter, and Hampton, with +Salisbury and Haverhill on the northern banks of the Merrimac--were, +in 1643, made to constitute the county of Norfolk, one of the four +counties into which Massachusetts was then divided.[17] + +A similar fortune at a later date overtook the townships to the north +of the Piscataqua. The origin of the name "Maine," applied to the +regions of these settlements, has never been satisfactorily explained. +Possibly it was a compliment to Henrietta Maria, the French wife of +Charles I.; more probably the fishermen used it to distinguish the +continent from the islands. The term "Maine" first occurs in the grant +to Gorges and Mason, August 22, 1622, which embraced all the land +between the Merrimac and the Sagadahoc, or Kennebec. By Mason's patent +in 1629 the country west of the Piscataqua was called New Hampshire, +and after that Maine was a name applied to the region between the +Piscataqua and Kennebec. In more modern times it was extended to the +country beyond, as far as the St. Croix River. + +Under Gorges' influence Christopher Levett made a settlement in 1623 +on an island in Saco Bay which has been called "the first regular +settlement in Maine."[18] The same year some Plymouth merchants +planted a colony upon Monhegan Island, which had been long a place of +general resort for fishermen.[19] And about the same time Gorges made +a settlement on the "maine" at Saco,[20] under the management of +Richard Vines. By two patents, both dated February 12, 1630, this +settlement was divided into two parts--one to Vines and Oldham, one to +Lewis and Bonighton--each extending four miles along by the sea-shore +and eight miles along the river-banks. These two tracts formed the +township of Saco, a part of which now bears the name of Biddeford. In +1625 the settlement of Pemaquid is known to have occurred, but it was +not patented till February 14, 1631, by the Bristol merchants +Aldsworth and Elbridge. Next in order of settlement was probably the +trading-post of the Plymouth colony at Kennebec, for which a patent +was obtained in 1628. + +Many other patents were issued by the Council for New England. Thus, +March 13, 1630, John Beauchamp and Thomas Leverett obtained a grant of +ten leagues square, between Muscongus and Penobscot Bay upon which +they set up a factory for trading with the Indians; while the modern +city of Scarboro, on Casco Bay, occupies a tract which was made the +subject of two conflicting grants, one to Richard Bradshaw, November +4, and the other to Robert Trelawney and Moses Goodyear, December 1, +1631.[21] + +Three other patents issued by the Council for New England, and having +an important connection with subsequent history, remain to be +mentioned. The first, December, 1631, granted twenty-four thousand +acres ten miles distant from Piscataqua to Ferdinando Gorges (son and +heir of John Gorges), Samuel Maverick, and several others. Many +settlers came over, and the first manager was Colonel Norton, but in a +short time he appeared to have been superseded by William Gorges, +nephew of Sir Ferdinando Gorges.[22] + +After the division in 1635, by which his title between the Piscataqua +and the Kennebec was affirmed, Sir Ferdinando Gorges erected the coast +from Cape Elizabeth, a few miles north of Saco, as far as Kennebec, +into a district called New Somersetshire.[23] Two years later Gorges +obtained from King Charles a royal charter constituting him proprietor +of the "province or county of Maine," with all the rights of a count +palatine.[24] The provisions of this charter are more curious than +important. The territory granted, which included Agamenticus, was +embraced between the Piscataqua and Kennebec, and extended inland one +hundred and twenty miles. The lord proprietor had the right to divide +his province into counties, appoint all officers, and to execute +martial law. But while his rights were thus extensive, the liberties +of the people were preserved by a provision for a popular assembly to +join with him in making laws. + +The charter certainly was out of keeping with the conditions of a +distant empire inhabited only by red savages and a few white +fishermen; but Gorges' elaborate plan for regulating the government +seemed even more far-fetched. He proposed to have not only a +lieutenant-governor, but a chancellor, a marshal, a treasurer, an +admiral, a master of ordnance, and a secretary, and they were to act +as a council of state.[25] + +To this wild realm in Norumbega, Thomas Gorges, "a sober and +well-disposed young man," nephew of the lord proprietor, was +commissioned in 1640 to be the first governor, and stayed three years +in the colony.[26] Agamenticus (now York) was only a small hamlet, but +the lord proprietor honored it in March, 1652, by naming it Gorgeana, +after himself, and incorporating it as a city. The charter of this +first city of the United States is a historical curiosity, since for a +population of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants it provided a +territory covering twenty-one square miles and a body of nearly forty +officials.[27] + +The second of the three important patents led to the absorption of +Maine by the government of Massachusetts. The claim of Massachusetts +to jurisdiction over the settlements in New Hampshire as readily +applied to Maine; and, in addition, the patent granted in June, 1632, +by the Council for New England, to George Way and Thomas Purchas, gave +a tract of land along the river "Bishopscot" or "Pejepscot," better +known as the Androscoggin.[28] In 1639 Massachusetts, by buying this +property, secured her first hold on the land within Gorges' +patent.[29] The revival in 1643 of another patent, believed to have +been abandoned, but with rights conflicting with the patent of Gorges, +both prompted and excused the interference of Massachusetts. + +The third great patent was a grant made by the Council for New +England, in June, 1630, for a tract extending from Cape Porpoise to +Cape Elizabeth, and hence taking in Gorges' settlement at Saco.[30] +This patent was known as the Lygonian, or "Plough patent," the latter +commemorating the name of the vessel which brought over the first +settlers, who after a short time gave up the settlement and went to +Boston in July, 1631. For twelve years the patent was neglected, but +in 1643 the rights of the original patentees were purchased by +Alexander Rigby, a prominent member of Parliament.[31] He sent over as +his agent George Cleves, but when he arrived in America in 1644 his +assumption of authority under the Plough patent was naturally resisted +by the government of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. + +Cleves set up his government at Casco, and Vines, his rival, organized +his at Saco. When Cleves sent his friend Tucker to Vines with a +proposal to settle the controversy, Vines arrested the envoy and threw +him into prison. Both parties appealed to the government of +Massachusetts, who gave them advice to remain quiet. The contention +continued, however, and at last the Massachusetts court of assistants, +in June, 1646, consented to refer the case to a jury. Then it appeared +that there were six or eight patentees in the original Plough patent, +and Mr. Rigby's agent could only show an assignment from two. On the +other hand, Vines could not produce the royal patent of Sir Ferdinando +Gorges, which was in England, and had only a copy attested by +witnesses. On account of these defects the jury declined to bring in a +verdict. + +Cleves had better fortune with the parliamentary commissioners for +foreign plantations, to whom he carried the dispute, since before this +tribunal the veteran Gorges, who had taken the king's side, had little +chance to be heard. In March, 1646, they decided in favor of Rigby, +and made the Kennebunk River the boundary-line between the two rival +proprietors, thus reducing Gorges' dominions in Maine to only three +towns--Gorgeana, Welles, and Kittery, which had grown up at the mouth +of the Piscataqua opposite to Strawberry Bank.[32] + +The year following this decision Gorges died, and the province of +Maine was left practically without a head. The settlers wrote to his +heirs for instruction, but owing to the confusion of the times +received no reply.[33] In this state of doubt and suspense the general +court was, in 1649, convoked at Welles, when Edward Godfrey was +elected governor. Then another address was prepared and transmitted to +England, but it met with no better fortune than the first. +Accordingly, in July, 1649, the settlers of the three townships met at +Gorgeana and declared themselves a body politic. Edward Godfrey was +re-elected governor, and a council of five members were chosen to +assist him in the discharge of his duties.[34] + +In this state of affairs, deserted by their friends in England, the +Maine settlements looked an inviting prey to Massachusetts. In +October, 1651, three commissioners were appointed to proceed to +Kittery to convey the warning of Massachusetts "against any further +proceeding by virtue of their combination or any other interest +whatsoever."[35] Godfrey declined to submit, and in behalf of the +general court of the colony addressed a letter, December 5, 1651, to +the Council of State of Great Britain praying a confirmation of the +government which the settlers had erected. Cleves, at the head of the +Rigby colony, made common cause with Godfrey and carried the petition +to England, but he met with no success. The death of Rigby rendered +Cleves's influence of no avail against the Massachusetts agent, Edward +Winslow, who showed that Cleves's mission had originated among +American royalists.[36] + +This opposition, in fact, served only to hasten the action of +Massachusetts. In May, 1652, surveyors were appointed by the general +court who traced the stream of the Merrimac as far north as the +parallel of 43 deg. 40' 12".[37] Then, despite the protests of Godfrey, +commissioners were again sent to Kittery, where they opened a court, +November 15, and shortly after received the submission of the +inhabitants.[38] They next proceeded to Gorgeana, where the like +result followed, Governor Godfrey reluctantly submitting with the +rest. Gorgeana was made a town under the Massachusetts jurisdiction, +by the name of York, and all the country claimed by Massachusetts +beyond the Piscataqua was made into a county of the same name.[39] + +Next year, 1653, commissioners were sent to Welles, the remaining town +in the Gorges jurisdiction, to summon to obedience the inhabitants +there and at Saco and Cape Porpoise, in the Lygonian patent, and the +conditions made resistance unlikely. Disregarding the Rigby +claims,[40] the settlers in southern Maine accepted the overture of +the Massachusetts commissioners. Accordingly, Welles, Saco, and Cape +Porpoise followed the example of Kittery and Gorgeana, and came under +the government of Massachusetts. + +The inhabitants north of Saco about Casco Bay remained independent for +several years after. Cleves and other leading inhabitants would not +submit, and they tried to secure the interference of Cromwell. When +they failed in this attempt, the people of Casco Bay, in 1658, +recognized the authority of Massachusetts. It was at this time that +the plantations at Black Point, at Spurwink, and Blue Point were +united and received the name of Scarboro and those at Casco Bay +received that of Falmouth.[41] + +Whatever judgment we may pass on the motives of Massachusetts in thus +enlarging her borders to the farthest limits of settled territory +north of Plymouth, it must be acknowledged that her course inured to +the benefit of all parties concerned. The unruly settlements of the +north received in time an orderly government, while each successive +addition of territory weakened the power of the religious aristocracy +in Massachusetts by welcoming into the body politic a new factor of +population. + +[Footnote 1: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 65-72.] + +[Footnote 2: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 210.] + +[Footnote 3: Mass. Hist. Soc, _Proceedings_ (year 1876), 358.] + +[Footnote 4: Belknap, _New Hampshire_, 20.] + +[Footnote 5: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 96-98.] + +[Footnote 6: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 98-107, +143-150.] + +[Footnote 7: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 137.] + +[Footnote 8: Ibid., I., 394, II., 33, 49, 76.] + +[Footnote 9: _Plymouth Col. Records_, X., 31, 32, 426.] + +[Footnote 10: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 349.] + +[Footnote 11: N.H. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 1st series, I., 321, +324.] + +[Footnote 12: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 349, 384.] + +[Footnote 13: _N.H. Col. Records_, I., 113.] + +[Footnote 14: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 332, 342, II., 29.] + +[Footnote 15: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 67; Winthrop, _New England_, +II., 195.] + +[Footnote 16: Palfrey, _New England_, I., 594.] + +[Footnote 17: _Mass. Col. Records_, II., 38.] + +[Footnote 18: Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 215.] + +[Footnote 19: Williamson, _Maine_, I., 226.] + +[Footnote 20: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 79; Doyle, +_English Colonies_, II., 215.] + +[Footnote 21: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 125, +150, 160, 163; Doyle, _English Colonies_, II., 324.] + +[Footnote 22: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 79.] + +[Footnote 23: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 276.] + +[Footnote 24: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., +222-243.] + +[Footnote 25: Gorges, _Description of New England_, 83.] + +[Footnote 26: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 11.] + +[Footnote 27: Hazard, _State Papers_, I., 470.] + +[Footnote 28: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 152.] + +[Footnote 29: _Mass. Col. Records_, I., 272.] + +[Footnote 30: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., +133-136.] + +[Footnote 31: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 69, II., 186.] + +[Footnote 32: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 186, 313, 390.] + +[Footnote 33: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 266, +267.] + +[Footnote 34: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 266, +267; Williamson, _Maine_, I., 326.] + +[Footnote 35: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 70.] + +[Footnote 36: Williamson, _Maine_, I., 336.] + +[Footnote 37: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 273.] + +[Footnote 38: Ibid., 274; _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 122-126.] + +[Footnote 39: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 129.] + +[Footnote 40: Williamson, _Maine_, I., 340, 341.] + +[Footnote 41: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 157-165, 359-360.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +COLONIAL NEIGHBORS + +(1643-1652) + + +Although the successive English colonies--Virginia, Maryland, +Plymouth, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Haven, New +Hampshire, and Maine--each sprang from separate impulses, we have seen +how one depended upon another and how inextricably their history is +connected each with the other. Even the widely separated southern and +northern groups had intercourse and some transmigration. Thus the +history of each colony is a strand in the history of England in +America. + +In the same way the history of each colony and of the colonies taken +together is interwoven with that of colonies of other European +nations--the Spaniards, French, and Dutch--planted at first distant +from the English settlements, but gradually expanding into dangerous +proximity. It was from a desire to protect themselves against the +danger of attack by their foreign neighbors and to press their +territorial claims that the New England group of English colonies +afforded the example of the first American confederation. + +Danger to the English colonization came first from the Spaniards, who +claimed a monopoly of the whole of North America by virtue of +discovery, the bull of Pope Alexander VI., and prior settlement. When +Sir Francis Drake returned from his expedition in 1580 the Spanish +authorities in demanding the return of the treasure which he took from +their colonies in South America vigorously asserted their pre-emptive +rights to the continent. But the English government made this famous +reply--"that prescription without possession availed nothing, and that +every nation had a right by the law of nature to freely navigate those +seas and transport colonies to those parts where the Spaniards do not +inhabit."[1] + +The most northerly settlement of the Spaniards in 1580 was St. +Augustine, in Florida, for, though in 1524 Vasquez de Ayllon had +planted a settlement called San Miguel on James River, starvation, +disease, and Indian tomahawk soon destroyed it. After the defeat of +the Spanish Armada and the subsequent terrible punishment inflicted on +the Spanish marine England was less disposed than ever to listen to +the claims of Spain.[2] Reduced in power, the Spaniards substituted +intrigue for warlike measures, and while they entangled King James in +its web and hastened a change in the form of government for Virginia, +they did not inflict any permanent injury upon the colony. + +In 1624 England declared war against Spain, and English emigrants +invaded the West Indies and planted colonies at Barbadoes, St. +Christopher, Nevis, Montserrat, and other islands adjoining the +Spanish settlements. Till the New England Confederation the chief +scene of collision with the Spanish was the West Indies. In 1635 the +Spanish attacked and drove the English from the Tortugas, and +Wormeley, the governor, and many of the inhabitants took refuge in +Virginia.[3] + +Because of their proximity the danger from the French colonies was far +more real. Small fishing-vessels from Biscay, Brittany, and Normandy +were in the habit of visiting the coast of Newfoundland and adjacent +waters from as early as 1504. Jean Denys, of Honfleur, visited the +Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1506, and in 1508 Thomas Aubert sailed eighty +leagues up the St. Lawrence River.[4] In 1518 Baron de Lery attempted +to establish a colony on Sable Island, and left there some cattle and +hogs, which multiplied and proved of advantage to later adventurers. +Then followed the great voyage of John Verrazzano, who, in 1524, in a +search for the East Indies, sailed up the coast from thirty-four to +fifty-four degrees. In 1534 Jacques Cartier visited Newfoundland and +advanced up the river St. Lawrence till he reached the western part of +Anticosti Island. The next year Cartier came again and ascended the +great river many miles, visiting Stadacone (Quebec) and Hochelaga +(Montreal). At Quebec he encamped with his men, and, after a winter +rendered frightful by the cold and the ravages of the scurvy, he +returned in the spring to St. Malo.[5] + +No further attempt was made till a short peace ended the third +desperate struggle between Charles V. and Francis I. In 1540 King +Francis created Francis de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, lord of +Norumbega and viceroy of "Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, +Bell Isle, Carpunt, Labrador, Great Bay, and Baccalaos"; and Cartier +was made "captain-general." The expedition sailed in two divisions, +Cartier commanding the first, which left St. Malo May 23, 1541. Again +he passed a winter of gloom and suffering on the St. Lawrence, and in +June of the following year set out to return. + +On the coast of Newfoundland he met Roberval, who had charge of the +second division of the ships and two hundred colonists. The viceroy +ordered him to return, but Cartier slipped past him at night and left +Roberval to hold the country the best he could. Undismayed, Roberval +pursued his way, entered the St. Lawrence, and established his colony +at Quebec. He sent Jean Alefonse to explore Norumbega, a term applied +to the coast of Maine, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; and he himself +explored the river Saguenay. Lescarbot tells us that in the course of +1543 the king sent out Cartier, who brought home the wretched +survivors of the company. + +Then for nearly fifteen years the civil wars in France prevented any +further effort at settlement on the St. Lawrence. Scores of French +vessels, however, visited the region of the northwest for fish and +furs, and as soon as the civil wars were ended the work of +colonization was taken up anew. Failure as of old attended the first +experiments. In 1598 Marquis de la Roche landed forty convicts at +Sable Island, but after seven years the few survivors received a +pardon and returned home. In 1600 Chauvin and Pontgrave promised to +establish a colony on the St. Lawrence, and obtained from King Henry +IV. a grant of the fur trade, but Chauvin died and the undertaking +came to an end.[6] + +In 1603 the first systematic effort to found French colonies in +America was made. A company was formed at the head of which was Aymar +de Chastes, governor of Dieppe, who sent over Samuel Champlain. He +visited the St. Lawrence, and after careful exploration returned to +France with a valuable cargo of furs. On his arrival he found De +Chastes dead, but Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, a patriotic +Huguenot, took up the unfinished work. He received from Henry IV. a +patent[7] "to represent our person as lieutenant-general in the +country of Acadia from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree," with +governmental authority, and the exclusive privileges of traffic with +the Indians. + +April 7, 1604, De Monts, accompanied by Champlain, sailed from Havre +de Grace, and May 1 came in sight of Sable Island. They sailed up the +Bay of Fundy and entered a harbor on the north coast of Nova Scotia. +Poutrincourt, one of the leading men, was so pleased with the region +that he obtained a grant of it from De Monts, and named it Port Royal +(now Annapolis). After further exploration De Monts planted his +settlement on the Isle of St. Croix, at the mouth of the St. Croix +River, where he passed the winter; but half the emigrants died from +exposure and scurvy, and in the spring the colony was transferred to +Port Royal. After three years spent in the country, during which time +the coast was explored thoroughly by Champlain and Poutrincourt as far +as Nausett Harbor, the Acadian emigrants went back to France, which +they reached in October, 1607. + +The design was not abandoned. Poutrincourt returned in 1610 and +re-established his colony at Port Royal, which he placed in charge of +his son. In 1611 two Jesuit priests, Biard and Masse, came over, under +the patronage of Madame de Guercheville, and in 1613 they planted a +Jesuit station at Mount Desert Island, on the coast of Maine.[8] + +Champlain did not return to Port Royal, but was employed in another +direction. In April, 1608, De Monts sent out Champlain and Pontgrave +to establish a colony on the St. Lawrence and traffic with the Indians +of that region. Of this expedition Champlain was constituted +lieutenant-governor, and he was successful in planting a settlement at +Quebec in July, 1608. It was a mere trading-post, and after twenty +years it did not number over one hundred persons. But Champlain looked +to the time when Canada should be a prosperous province of France, and +he was tireless and persistent. Aided by several devout friars of the +Franciscan order, he labored hard to Christianize the Indians and +visited lakes Champlain, Nipissing, Huron, and Ontario. While he made +the fur trade of great value to the merchant company in France, he +committed the fatal mistake of mixing up with Indian quarrels. Between +the Five Nations of New York and the Hurons and their allies, the +Algonquins of the St. Lawrence, perpetual war prevailed, and Champlain +by taking sides against the former incurred for the French the lasting +hatred of those powerful Indians. + +The progress of the colony was not satisfactory to Champlain or to the +authorities in France, and in 1627 Cardinal Richelieu dissolved the +company which had charge of affairs, and instituted a new one with +himself at its head. In the spring of 1628 he despatched to Canada +four armed vessels and eighteen transports laden with emigrants, +stores, and cannon, but war had broken out between the English and +French the year before, and on their way the fleet was intercepted and +the ships and goods confiscated. + +The English had not recognized the claims of the French to any part of +the North American continent, and the very year that the Jesuit +station was planted at Mount Desert Island Samuel Argall came twice +from Virginia and burned the houses of the intruding French at all of +their settlements in Acadia: Mount Desert Island, Isle de Croix, and +Port Royal. The French rebuilt Port Royal, and at the death of +Poutrincourt's son Biencourt, about the year 1623, his possessions and +claims fell to his friend and companion Claude de la Tour. + +Meanwhile, in 1621, Sir William Alexander obtained a grant from King +James for New Scotland, being that part of Acadia now comprising the +provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick;[9] and he sent over from +time to time a few Scotch emigrants. De la Tour and the French +submitted, and English rule seemed firmly established in Acadia when +war was declared in 1628. In February, 1629, Alexander received a +patent for St. Lawrence River and "fifty leagues of bounds on both +sides thereof," and on both sides of its tributary lakes and rivers as +far as the Gulf of California.[10] + +After the failure of the expedition sent by Cardinal Richelieu, +Alexander and his partners despatched an English fleet commanded by +David Kirke, which appeared before Quebec in July, 1629. Champlain and +his small garrison were compelled to surrender, and all New France +fell under English power. Unfortunately for Alexander and Kirke, war +between the two nations had ceased, and the articles of peace provided +that all conquests made subsequent to April 24, 1629, should be +restored to the former owner. This insured the loss of Quebec and was +the forerunner of other misfortunes. In 1632 a treaty was made at St. +Germain by which, despite the protest of Sir William Alexander and a +memorial from the Scottish Parliament, King Charles consented "to give +up and restore all the places occupied in New France, Acadia, and +Canada" by his subjects.[11] + +In 1632 Champlain returned to his government at Quebec, and with him +arrived a number of zealous Jesuit priests, who began that adventurous +career of exploration which, after Champlain's death in 1635, +connected the fame of their order with the great lakes and the +Mississippi. The king of France appointed Chevalier Razilly governor +of Acadia, who designated as his lieutenants Claude de la Tour's son +Charles, for the portion west of St. Croix; and Charles de Menou, +Sieur d'Aulnay Charmise, for the portion to the east.[12] They claimed +dominion for France as far as Cape Cod. + +Subsequently the two rivals quarrelled, and in 1641 D'Aulnay obtained +an order from the king deposing De la Tour, but the latter refused +obedience and sent an envoy to Boston in November, 1641, to solicit +aid. This envoy was kindly treated, and some of the Puritan merchants +despatched a pinnace to trade with De la Tour; but they met with +D'Aulnay at Pemaquid, who threatened to make prize of any vessel which +he caught engaged in the fur trade in Acadia.[13] + +The Dutch claim to America was comparatively recent, as it was not +until 1597 that voyages were undertaken from Holland to the continent. +In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was chartered, and in 1609 sent +out Henry Hudson, an Englishman by birth, to seek a way to India by +the northeast. After sailing to Nova Zembla, where fogs and fields of +ice closed against him the strait of Veigatz, he changed his course +for Newfoundland and coasted southward to Chesapeake Bay. Returning on +his path he entered the Hudson in September, 1609, and stayed four +weeks exploring the river and trafficking with the natives.[14] + +The reports brought by him to Europe of a newly discovered country +abounding in fur-bearing animals created much interest, and in 1612 +some merchants in Holland sent Christiansen and Blok to the island of +Manhattan, where they built a little fort, which, it is stated, Argall +attacked in 1613. Losing his ship by fire, Blok built a yacht of +sixteen tons at Manhattan, and with this small craft was the first +explorer (1614) of the Connecticut River. He also visited Narragansett +Bay, and gave to its shores the name of Roode Eiland (now Rhode +Island). + +After his return home the merchants obtained from the States-General a +charter for three years' monopoly of the trade of New Netherland, as +the present New York was now first formally called. It was defined as +extending between New France and Virginia, from the fortieth to the +forty-fifth degree of north latitude.[15] After this New Netherland +continued to be resorted to by Dutch traders, though no regular +settlement was formed for some years. + +In 1619 Thomas Dermer visited the Hudson and brought news to England +of the operations of the Dutch and the value of the fur trade. +Thereupon Captain Samuel Argall, with many English planters, prepared +to make a settlement on the Hudson, and when the Dutch government, in +June, 1621, chartered the Dutch West India Company, the English court, +on Argall's complaint, protested against Dutch intrusion within what +was considered the limits of Virginia. The States-General at first +evaded a reply, but finally declared that they had never authorized +any settlement on the Hudson.[16] The charter,[17] in fact, gave the +company only an exclusive right to trade for twenty-four years on the +coasts of Africa and America. + +Nevertheless, the company proceeded to send over, in 1622, a number of +French Walloons, who constituted the first Dutch colony in America. +One party, under the command of Captain Cornelius Jacobson May, the +first Dutch governor, sailed to the South, or Delaware River, where, +four miles below the present Philadelphia, they erected a fort called +Nassau; and another party under Adrian Joris went up the Hudson, and +on the site of Albany built Fort Orange. Peter Minuit succeeded May in +1626, and bought from the Indians the whole of Manhattan Island, and +organized a government with an advisory council. + +The population of New Netherland was only two hundred, and though +trade was brisk there was little agriculture. The company met this +difficulty by obtaining a new charter and seeking to promote +emigration by dividing up the country among some great patroons: +Samuel Godyn, Killiaen van Renssalaer, Michael Pauw, David Pieterson +de Vries, and other rich men. In 1631 De Vries settled Swaanendael, on +the South River, as the Dutch called the Delaware; but in a few months +the Indians attacked the place and massacred the settlers.[18] Soon +the patroons became rivals of the West India Company in the fur trade, +and in 1632 Minuit, who favored them, was recalled and Wouter van +Twiller was made governor. His accession marks the first real clash +between the rival claims of the Dutch and English.[19] + +In 1632 Lord Baltimore obtained a patent for Maryland which included +all the south side of Delaware Bay and river; and a month later Sir +Edmund Plowden obtained a grant from the English king for "Long Isle +and also forty leagues square of the adjoining continent," including +the very site of Manhattan.[20] In April, 1633, Jacob Eelkens, in +command of an English vessel, forced his way past Fort Amsterdam, on +Manhattan Island, and traded with the Indians, until the incompetent +Van Twiller at length stripped him of his goods and drove him from the +river.[21] The same year Van Twiller, as we have seen, planted a fort +near the site of the present city of Hartford, which served as the +seed of future troubles. + +In 1634 Captain Thomas Young visited the Delaware and lorded it over +the Dutch vessels which he found in the river.[22] Then in 1635, while +settlers from Massachusetts poured into Connecticut, and the Council +for New England, preliminary to its dissolution, assigned Long Island, +despite the Dutch claim, to Sir William Alexander, men came from +Virginia to Delaware Bay and seized Fort Nassau, then abandoned by the +Dutch; but Van Twiller soon drove them away.[23] Thus step by step +English progress encroached upon the territories of the Dutch. + +In 1638 Van Twiller was recalled and William Kieft was sent over. He +had to deal with Swedes as well as English, for in 1626 King Gustavus +Adolphus was persuaded by Usselinx, an Amsterdam merchant, to form the +Swedish West India Company, and after his death Oxenstierna, his +prime-minister, renewed the scheme. In 1638 he sent out a Swedish +expedition under Peter Minuit, the late governor of New Netherland, +who established a fort on the Delaware near the present Wilmington, +and called it "Christina," and the Swedes paid no attention to the +protest of Governor Kieft.[24] + +In 1640 a party of English settlers from New Haven obtained deeds to +the soil on Long Island from Farrett, agent of Sir William Alexander, +and settled at Southold; and another party from Massachusetts, more +daring still, settled at Schouts Bay, almost opposite to Manhattan. +When a force of Dutch troops was sent against them they retired to the +east end of the island and settled Southampton. A more adventuresome +proceeding was attempted in 1641 when another party from New Haven +took the Dutch in the flank by settling on the Delaware. Dutch and +Swedes united to drive the intruders away. As if these were not +troubles enough, Kieft, in 1642, provoked war with the Indians all +along the Hudson. + +[Footnote 1: Brown, _Genesis of the United States_, I., 8.] + +[Footnote 2: Bourne, _Spain in America_, chap. x.] + +[Footnote 3: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 75, 85, 98.] + +[Footnote 4: Charlevoix, _New France_ (Shea's ed.), I., 106.] + +[Footnote 5: Hakluyt, _Voyages_, III., 250-297; Charlevoix, _New +France_ (Shea's ed.), I., 129-131; cf. Bourne, _Spain in America_, +chap. x.] + +[Footnote 6: Parkman, _Pioneers of France in the New World_, 213, +218.] + +[Footnote 7: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 2-6.] + +[Footnote 8: Charlevoix, _New France_ (Shea's ed.), I., 247-263.] + +[Footnote 9: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., 57.] + +[Footnote 10: Ibid., 82.] + +[Footnote 11: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, pp. 119, 130.] + +[Footnote 12: Hannay, _Acadia_, 140.] + +[Footnote 13: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 106, 109.] + +[Footnote 14: Purchas, _Pilgrimes_, III., 581-596.] + +[Footnote 15: Brodhead, _New York_, I., 57-62.] + +[Footnote 16: _N.Y. Docs. Rel. to Col. Hist._, III., 6-8.] + +[Footnote 17: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, VII., +53-56.] + +[Footnote 18: N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, III., 16, +22.] + +[Footnote 19: Brodhead, _New York_, I., 222.] + +[Footnote 20: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 154.] + +[Footnote 21: Brodhead, _New York_, I., 230.] + +[Footnote 22: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, IX., +125-128.] + +[Footnote 23: N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, III., 77.] + +[Footnote 24: Winsor, _Narr. and Crit. Hist._, IV., 443-452.] + +[Illustration: NEW SWEDEN AND NEW NETHERLAND] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE NEW ENGLAND CONFEDERATION + +(1643-1654) + + +These Dutch settlements brought about a political union of the New +England colonies, although the first cause of the New England +confederation was the Indian tribes who lay between the Dutch and the +English. In August, 1637, during the war with the Pequots, some of the +Connecticut magistrates and ministers suggested to the authorities at +Boston the expediency of such a measure. The next year Massachusetts +submitted a plan of union, but Connecticut demurred because it +permitted a mere majority of the federal commissioners to decide +questions. Thereupon Massachusetts injected the boundary question into +the discussions, and proposed an article not relished by Connecticut, +that the Pequot River should be the line between the two +jurisdictions.[1] Thus the matter lay in an unsettled state till the +next year, when jealousy of the Dutch stimulated renewed action. + +In 1639 John Haynes, of Connecticut, and Rev. Thomas Hooker came to +Boston, and again the plan of a confederation was discussed, but +Plymouth and Massachusetts quarrelled over their boundary-line, and +the desirable event was once more postponed. Nearly three more years +passed, and the founding of a confederacy was still delayed. Then, at +a general court held at Boston, September 27, 1642, letters from +Connecticut were read "certifying us that the Indians all over the +country had combined themselves to cut off all the English." + +At this time the war between De la Tour and D'Aulnay was at its +height, and the Dutch complaints added to the general alarm. Thus the +Connecticut proposition for a league received a more favorable +consideration and was referred to a committee "to consider" after the +court. At the next general court which met in Boston, May 10, 1643, a +compact of confederation in writing was duly signed by commissioners +from Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Haven.[2] The +settlement of Gorges and Mason at Piscataqua and the plantations about +Narragansett Bay were denied admission into the confederacy--the +former "because they ran a different course from us both in their +ministry and administration,"[3] and the latter because they were +regarded as "tumultuous" and "schismatic." + +After a preamble setting forth that "we live encompassed with people +of several nations and strange languages," that "the savages have of +late combined themselves against us," and that "the sad distractions +in England prevent the hope of advice and protection," the document +states that the contracting parties' object was to maintain "a firm +and perpetual league of friendship and amity, for offence and defence, +mutual advice and succor upon all just occasions both for preserving +and propagating the truth and liberties of the gospel, and for their +own mutual safety and walfare." It then declared the name of the new +confederation to be "the United Colonies of New England," and in ten +articles set out the organization and powers of the federal +government. The management was placed in the hands of eight +commissioners, two for each colony, "all in church-fellowship with +us," who were to hold an annual meeting in each of the colonies by +rotation, and to have power by a vote of six "to determine all affairs +of war or peace, leagues, aids, charges, and number of men for war, +division of spoils, or whatever is gotten by conquest," the admission +of new confederates, etc. All public charges were to be paid by +contributions levied on the colonies proportioned to the number of +inhabitants in each colony between sixteen and sixty; and for this +purpose a census was to be taken at stated times by the commissioners. +In domestic affairs the federal government was not to interfere, but +each colony was guaranteed the integrity of its territory and local +jurisdiction. + +Two defects were apparent in this constitution: the federal government +had no authority to act directly upon individuals, and thus it had no +coercive power; the equal number of votes allowed the members of the +confederation in the federal council was a standing contradiction of +the measure of contribution to the burdens of government. The +confederacy contained a population of about twenty-three thousand five +hundred souls, of which number fifteen thousand may be assigned to +Massachusetts, three thousand each to Connecticut and Plymouth, and +two thousand five hundred to New Haven. Massachusetts, with two out of +eight commissioners, possessed a population greater than that of the +other three colonies combined. + +There was really no Indian combination in 1643 against the colonists, +but the rivalry between the Narragansetts and the Mohegans gave +grounds for uneasiness. After the death of Miantonomoh, under the +circumstances already related, the fear of an Indian attack was +temporarily removed. But the Narragansetts were grief-stricken over +the loss of their chieftain and thought only of revenge upon the hated +Uncas and his Indians, at whose door they laid all the blame. To give +opportunity for intended operations, they made Gorton and others +intermediaries for a complete cession of their country to the king of +England in April, 1644. Then, when summoned by the general court of +Massachusetts to Boston, Canonicus and Pessacus, the two leading +chiefs, pleaded the king's jurisdiction and declined to appear.[4] Two +envoys sent by the general court in May, 1644, to the wigwam of +Canonicus, were compelled to stay out in the rain for two hours before +being admitted, and Pessacus, instead of giving them satisfaction, +persisted in his threat of hostilities against Uncas, agreeing only +not to attack Uncas "till after next planting-time," nor then till +after due notice given to the English.[5] + +The truce did not restrain the Narragansetts, and in the spring of +1645 they attacked the Mohegans and defeated them, and thereupon the +federal commissioners, in July, 1645, met at Boston, and upon the +refusal of the Narragansetts to make peace with Uncas they made +preparations for war. A force of three hundred men was raised, one +hundred and ninety from Massachusetts, forty each from Plymouth and +Connecticut, and thirty from New Haven. + +Upon the question of appointment of a commander-in-chief colonial +independence came in conflict with federal supremacy. In 1637 +Massachusetts was the champion of the principle that all questions +should be decided by a simple majority vote of the commissioners; but +now the Massachusetts general court asserted that no appointment of a +commander should be valid without their confirmation. The federal +commissioners stood stoutly for their rights, and the issue was evaded +for a time by the appointment of Major Gibbons, who was a citizen of +Massachusetts. + +The report of these warlike preparations brought the Narragansetts to +terms; but uneasiness still continued, and the subsequent years, +though free from bloodshed, were full of rumors and reports of +hostilities, compelling frequently the interference of the +commissioners in behalf of their friend Uncas. In all these +troubles[6] the question is not so much the propriety of the +particular measures of the federal commissioners as their conduct in +making the confederation a party to the disputes of the Indians among +themselves. The time finally came when Uncas, "the friend of the white +man," was regarded by his former admirers as a hopeless marplot and +intriguer. + +More commendable were the services of the federal commissioners with +the Indians in another particular. One of the professed designs of the +charter of Massachusetts was to Christianize the heathen savages, but +more than twelve years elapsed after the coming of Winthrop and his +colonists before New England was the scene of anything like missionary +work. Then the first mission was established in 1643 by Thomas Mayhew +at the island of Martha's Vineyard, which was not included in any of +the New England governments and was under the jurisdiction of Sir +William Alexander. In 1651 Mayhew reported that one hundred and +ninety-nine men, women, and children of Martha's Vineyard and +Nantucket were "worshippers of the great and ever living God." + +His example was followed by John Eliot, the minister of Roxbury, in +Massachusetts, who learned to speak the Indian tongue, and in 1646 +preached to the Indians near Watertown. The Massachusetts general +court a week later endorsed the purposes of Eliot by enacting that the +church should take care to send two ministers among the Indians every +year to make known to them by the help of an interpreter "the heavenly +counsel of God." In four years two colonies of Indians were +established, one at Nonantum and the other at Concord. But the +converts were still under the influence of their sagamores, who were +hostile to Eliot's schemes, and in 1651 he removed his Indians to +Natick, on the Charles River, where they might be free from all +heathenish subjection. + +In the mean time, the intelligence of what was taking place was +communicated to Edward Winslow, the agent of the colony in England. He +brought the matter to the attention of Parliament, and July 19, 1649, +an ordinance was passed incorporating "the society for the promoting +and propagating of the gospel of Jesus Christ in New England." This +society selected the federal commissioners as the managers of the fund +which flowed into them from persons charitably inclined, and in seven +years the sums which were remitted to New England amounted to more +than L1700. The commissioners laid out the money in paying Eliot and +Mayhew and other teachers, in printing catechisms in the Indian +language, and providing the Indian converts with implements of labor. +By 1674 the number of these "praying Indians," as they were called, +was estimated at four thousand.[7] + +The commissioners also rendered many services in the domestic affairs +of the colonies. In order to secure the claim which she had advanced +in 1637 to the Pequot River as her southern boundary, Massachusetts in +1644 authorized John Winthrop, Jr., to plant a colony on Pequot Bay at +a spot called Nameaug, now New London.[8] The Connecticut government +protested against the authority of Massachusetts, and in 1647 the +commissioners decided that "the jurisdiction of the plantation doth +and ought to belong to Connecticut."[9] This decision, however, only +settled the ownership of a particular place, and the exact southern +and northern boundaries of Connecticut remained for several years a +matter of contention. + +In another matter of internal interest the influence of the +confederacy was manifested. Among other considerations for the cession +of the Saybrook fort, Fenwick was promised the proceeds for the term +of ten years of a duty on all corn, biscuit, beaver, and cattle +exported from the Connecticut River.[10] March 4, 1645, the general +court of Connecticut passed an act to carry out their promise; but as +the law affected the trade of Springfield on the upper waters of the +Connecticut River as much as that of the Connecticut towns, +Springfield protested, and appealed to the protection of +Massachusetts. Thereupon the general court of that colony lodged a +vigorous complaint with the federal commissioners, and the cause was +patiently heard by them at two separate meetings. Massachusetts had, +doubtless, the right on her side, but the Connecticut contention +rested on what was international usage at the time. + +The result of the deliberation of the commissioners was a decision in +July, 1647, in favor of Connecticut. This was far from satisfying +Massachusetts, and she reopened the question in September, 1648. To +enforce her arguments, she offered certain amendments to the +confederation, which, if adopted, would have shorn the commissioners +of pretty nearly all their authority. But the commissioners stood +firm, and declared that "they found not sufficient cause to reverse +what was done last year."[11] + +Feeling on both sides had now become quite embittered. At a special +meeting of the federal commissioners in July, 1649, Massachusetts +renewed her objections, and during the discussions her commissioners +produced an order,[12] passed two months before by their general +court, which, reciting the decision against Springfield, laid a tax +upon all articles imported to Boston from any one of the other three +confederate colonies, or exported to them from "any part of the Bay." +This proceeding was justly interpreted by the federal commissioners to +mean not only a retaliation upon Connecticut for the Saybrook tax, but +a punishment upon the other two colonies--Plymouth and New Haven--for +taking her side in the court of the confederation. + +The commissioners acted with dignified firmness, and forwarded to +Massachusetts a remonstrance in which they pointedly desired "to be +spared in all further agitations concerning Springfield."[13] +Massachusetts reluctantly yielded and the next year repealed her +impost,[14] while Connecticut continued to tax the trade of +Springfield till the ten years expired. Whether the tax imposed by +Connecticut was right or not, Massachusetts had, nevertheless, gone +dangerously near to nullification in these proceedings. + +Not less interesting is the history of the dealings of the +commissioners with the French and Dutch. Encouraged by the favor which +had been extended to him in Massachusetts, De la Tour arrived in +person in Boston, June 12, 1643, to crave assistance against D'Aulnay, +his rival. As, notwithstanding the French king's order of the previous +year, he showed a commission from the vice-admiral of France which +styled him as lieutenant-general of Acadia, Governor Winthrop, +influenced by the merchants of Boston, whose cupidity was excited by +the valuable fur trade of Acadia, permitted him to hire both men and +shipping in Massachusetts. When his preparations were completed he +sailed away, accompanied by a fleet of four ships and a pinnace, the +property of two intimate friends of the governor--Major Gibbons and +Captain Hawkins--the latter of whom went along in charge of the +Puritan contingent.[15] + +In permitting this expedition Winthrop not only violated the articles +of confederation and the laws of neutrality, but exposed himself to +the reproach of Endicott and some of the more straitlaced elders, that +he consorted with "idolators" and "antichrists," as Puritans chose to +call Roman Catholics. It seems that Winthrop and his Boston friends +did not intend to do more than to restore De la Tour to St. Johns, +which D'Aulnay was then besieging. But the original wrong had its +natural result. When D'Aulnay saw his rival's formidable fleet +approaching he promptly raised the blockade and made haste to get +under the protection of his stronghold at Port Royal. De la Tour +followed and attacked, and, though he failed to dislodge his enemy, +with the assistance of the Boston men he killed several of D'Aulnay's +soldiers, burned his mill, and did much other damage. + +After this, while D'Aulnay went to France to get fresh orders from the +king against his rival, De la Tour came to Massachusetts in May, 1644, +in hopes of again interesting the Puritans there in his fortunes. But +John Endicott had been elected governor in the place of Winthrop, and +all the cheer De la Tour could get in return for permitting free-trade +was the promise of a letter addressed to D'Aulnay urging peace with De +la Tour and protesting against the capture of Massachusetts' trading +vessels.[16] + +In September, 1644, the federal commissioners met at Hartford, and +showed dislike of the conduct of ex-Governor Winthrop by passing a +resolution to the effect that "no jurisdiction within this +confederation shall permit any voluntaries to go forth in a warlike +way against any people whatever without order and direction of the +commissioners of the other jurisdictions." In the mean while, D'Aulnay +came back from France with fresh orders from the king for the arrest +of De la Tour, and in October, 1644, sent to Boston an envoy with the +new credentials. The Massachusetts authorities were reluctant to +abandon De la Tour, but seeing no alternative they made a treaty for +free-trade, subject to confirmation by the federal commissioners.[17] + +Still the ties that bound the Boston merchants to De la Tour were not +wholly dissolved even now. They gave an asylum to De la Tour's wife at +Boston, and sent her with supplies to his fort at Port Royal; and when +the fort succumbed under D'Aulnay's attack they fitted her husband out +with a ship and truck for trading. At last De la Tour's dealings +thoroughly opened their eyes. When the ship came to Cape Sable, De la +Tour and his Frenchmen suddenly arose against the English crew, put +them out in the woods, and seized and appropriated the vessel and +cargo. Prominent among those who had lent money and influence to De la +Tour was Major Edward Gibbons, who lost upward of L2500. + +D'Aulnay retaliated and took a ship belonging to Massachusetts, and in +September, 1646, a new treaty was made with him by envoys representing +the confederacy. The English made a formal acknowledgment of error, +and the French accepted in full satisfaction a present to D'Aulnay of +a sedan-chair, which had been sent as a present by the viceroy of +Mexico to his sister, but was captured in the West Indies by Cromwell +and given by him to Governor Winthrop.[18] + +In 1648 the colony of Massachusetts applied to the French officials at +Quebec for a reciprocity of trade. As the Iroquois had proved very +destructive to the French and their Algonquin and Huron allies, the +French governor caught at the plan of granting the desired privileges +in return for military aid. Accordingly, in 1650, the French governor, +D'Aillebout, sent the Jesuit father Druillettes, who had acted as +missionary among the Algonquins of Maine, as envoy to Boston to +negotiate a treaty.[19] But Massachusetts did not repeat the error of +former times, and would do nothing without consent of the federal +commissioners. To them, therefore, the matter was referred, with the +result that the commissioners declined to involve the confederacy in a +war with the Iroquois by authorizing any assistance to be given the +French privately or officially.[20] + +In the relations with the Dutch the temperate and conservative force +in the confederacy was Massachusetts, who took steady ground for peace +and opposed hostile measures. In doing so, however, she went the whole +length of nullification and almost broke up the confederacy. William +Kieft, the governor of New Netherland (1637-1647), seemed to recognize +at once the significance of the confederacy as well as the importance +of making friends with Massachusetts; and in July, 1643, before the +commissioners had time to hold their first meeting, he wrote a letter +of congratulations to Governor Winthrop, which he loaded, however, +with complaints against Connecticut for intruding upon the land of the +Dutch fort at Hartford. Governor Winthrop in reply assured Kieft that +the influence of Massachusetts would be on the side of peace, for that +"the ground of difference being only a small parcel of land" was a +matter of too small value to cause a breach between two people so +nearly related as the Dutch and English. + +When the federal commissioners met in September they showed a hostile +spirit, and addressed vehement letters to the Swedish and Dutch on +account of their "foul injuries" offered the New Haven settlers on the +Delaware. In March, 1644, letters came from the Swedes and Dutch full +of expressions of regard for the English and "particularly for +Massachusetts." They promised to refrain from interfering with +visitors who should bring authority from the commissioners, which so +encouraged some Boston merchants that they sent to the Delaware a +pinnace to search for a great lake reported to be its source. But when +they arrived at the Delaware, the Swedish and Dutch governors, while +telling the captain that he might go up the river as far as he chose, +prohibited him from any trafficking with the Indians, which caused the +return of the pinnace to Boston. After this the war which Kieft +provoked with the Indians so occupied the Dutch that for two years +they had no time to give attention to their English neighbors. So hard +pressed were they that, instead of making further reclamations on New +Haven, they earnestly but unsuccessfully solicited her aid. After +great losses to both the Dutch and the Indians the Mohawks intervened +as arbitrators, and brought about a peace in September, 1645.[21] + +In 1646 the men of New Haven set up a trading-house near the mouth of +the Housatonic, and thereupon Kieft wrote to the commissioners, who +met at New Haven in April, 1646, a blustering letter of which the +following is a good sample: "We protest against all you commissioners +met at the Red Mount (New Haven) as against breakers of the common +league, and also infringers of the rights of the lords, the states, +our superiors, in that you have dared, without our express and +especial consent, to hold your general meeting within the limits of +New Netherland."[22] At the close of Kieft's administration in 1647 +the whole province of New Netherland could furnish not more than three +hundred fighting-men and contained a population of not more than two +thousand. Compared with the population of New England these figures +seem insignificant enough, and render highly improbable the story +popular with some New England historians that the Dutch were enlisted +in a great scheme of uprooting the English colonies. + +In 1647 Peter Stuyvesant was sent over as governor. He had the sense +to see that the real safety of the Dutch consisted not in bluster, but +in settling a line between the possessions of the two nations as soon +as possible. The charter of the West India Company called for the +territory between forty and forty-five degrees north latitude, but to +assert the full extent of the patent would have been to claim the +jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Accordingly, Stuyvesant, soon after his +arrival, addressed a letter to Governor Winthrop, asserting the Dutch +claim to all the land between the Connecticut and Delaware and +proposing a conference. But it is evident that in claiming the +Connecticut he was actuated more by a hope of deterring the further +aggressions of English settlers than otherwise. The federal +commissioners returned a polite reply, but showed no anxiety to come +to an accommodation. Soon after a fresh quarrel broke out with New +Haven, and in March, 1648, Stuyvesant wrote to the governor of +Massachusetts offering to submit to him and the governor of Plymouth +the matter in dispute. He then wrote home for instructions, and as +diplomatic relations between England and Holland were suspended, the +West India Company bade him make such terms as he could with his +English neighbors.[23] + +Accordingly, in September, 1650, Stuyvesant visited Hartford while the +federal commissioners were in session there. The discussions were +carried on in writing, and Stuyvesant dated his letter at "New +Netherland." The federal commissioners declined to receive this +letter, and Stuyvesant changed the address to "Connecticut." This +proving satisfactory to the commissioners, Stuyvesant set out his +territorial claim and the imputed wrongs suffered by the Dutch from +the English, and the federal commissioners rejoined in a similar +manner. Then Stuyvesant proposed to refer the question in dispute to +four arbitrators, all Englishmen, two to be appointed by himself and +two by the federal commissioners. + +The offer was accepted, and after a full hearing by these arbitrators, +Thomas Willet, George Baxter, Simon Bradstreet, and Thomas Prince, +declined to decide upon the wrongs complained of by either party and +rendered an award upon the territorial question only. They decided +that the Dutch should retain their fort on the Connecticut, and that +the boundary should begin at a point on the west side of Greenwich +Bay, about four miles from Stamford, and run due north twenty miles. +From that point it should be extended as the Dutch and New Haven might +agree, provided that the line should not come nearer the Hudson River +than ten miles. The English obtained most of Long Island besides, for +in that quarter the line was declared to be a meridian drawn through +the westernmost part of Oyster Bay.[24] If these terms subjected +Stuyvesant to severe criticism at New Amsterdam, it was really a +stroke of statesmanship to obtain, even at a sacrifice, what was for +the first time an international barrier to English intrusion. + +The southern flank of New Netherland was left unprotected, and in 1651 +New Haven once more endeavored to plant a colony on the Delaware. The +failure of the former attempt bore heavily upon the wealthy merchants +of the town, and they had ill luck in another adventure. In January, +1646, they sent an agent to England to solicit a charter from the +English government. The ship in which he sailed carried seventy other +prominent citizens of the place and a cargo valued at L5000. A great +storm ensued after the ship's departure and she was lost at sea.[25] +So disheartening was this misfortune that many at New Haven +entertained the idea of removing to the West Indies or Ireland. + +Now, in 1651, under a commission from Governor Eaton, fifty men from +New Haven prepared to sail for the Delaware.[26] Their ship touched at +New Amsterdam, and Stuyvesant arrested both passengers and officers, +and only released them on their promise to return home. The +adventurers appealed to the commissioners, and these officials wrote a +letter to Stuyvesant protesting against his course.[27] + +Next year war broke out between Holland and England, and the war +spirit spread to this side of the ocean. Rumors got afloat that the +Dutch and Indians had conspired against the English, and Connecticut +and New Haven became hysterical for war; while Rhode Island +commissioned John Underhill, lately escaped from the Dutch, to take +all Dutch vessels he could find.[28] Stuyvesant indignantly denied the +charge of conspiring with the Indians, and proposed to refer the +examination of the facts to any impartial tribunal. Nevertheless, all +the old complaints were revived. + +In 1652 the federal commissioners resolved on hostilities,[29] but the +Massachusetts general court, which had all along taken a position in +favor of peace, refused to be bound by a vote of six commissioners +representing Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven.[30] On the other +hand, the commissioners of the three smaller colonies protested +against the conduct of the court of Massachusetts as violating the +confederation.[31] New Haven and Connecticut took measures to wage war +on their own account,[32] and in April, 1654, Connecticut sequestered +the Dutch fort at Hartford.[33] + +When, in June, 1654, a fleet despatched by Cromwell, in response to +appeals made to him, appeared in Boston harbor, Connecticut and New +Haven were overjoyed, and proceeded with alacrity to make arrangements +for an attack on the hated Dutch. Massachusetts refused to raise +troops, although she gave her citizens privilege to enlist if they +chose. Yet her policy of peace prevailed in the end, for before the +preparations described could be completed a stop was put to them by +the news that a treaty of peace had been signed between England and +Holland April 5, 1654.[34] + +Massachusetts had successfully nullified the plain provisions of the +articles, and for a time it looked as if the dissolution of the +confederacy would be the consequence. New Haven voted at first not to +choose commissioners, but finally decided to do so,[35] and meetings +of the commissioners went on apparently as before. Nevertheless, the +effect of the action of Massachusetts was far-reaching--from that time +the respective colonies diverged more and more, till the hope of a +permanent intercolonial bond vanished. + +[Footnote 1: Winthrop, _New England_, I., 283, 342-344.] + +[Footnote 2: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 95, 99, 102, 121-127.] + +[Footnote 3: Ibid., 121.] + +[Footnote 4: _Simplicities Defence_ (Force, _Tracts_, IV., No. vi., +93).] + +[Footnote 5: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 203, 243, 301, 463.] + +[Footnote 6: _Plymouth Col. Records_, IX., 32-49.] + +[Footnote 7: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 187-198, 332-341, III., 141; +Hutchinson, _Massachusetts Bay_, I., 153.] + +[Footnote 8: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 325.] + +[Footnote 9: Palfrey, _New England_, II., 234.] + +[Footnote 10: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 508.] + +[Footnote 11: Ibid., 165, 166; Palfrey, _New England_, II., 240-249.] + +[Footnote 12: _Mass. Col. Records_, III., 152.] + +[Footnote 13: _Plymouth Col. Records_, IX., 158.] + +[Footnote 14: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., II.] + +[Footnote 15: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 128, 130, 153.] + +[Footnote 16: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 163, 180, 219, 220.] + +[Footnote 17: _Plymouth Col. Records_, IX., 59.] + +[Footnote 18: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 244, 335.] + +[Footnote 19: Parkman, _Jesuits_, 327-335.] + +[Footnote 20: Hutchinson, _Massachusetts Bay_, I., 156-158.] + +[Footnote 21: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 155, 157, 169, 189, 193, +229; Brodhead, _New York_, I., 409.] + +[Footnote 22: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 158.] + +[Footnote 23: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 382, 395; Brodhead, _New +York_, I. 499.] + +[Footnote 24: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 189-192.] + +[Footnote 25: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 325, 337.] + +[Footnote 26: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 196.] + +[Footnote 27: _Plymouth Col. Records_, IX., 210-215.] + +[Footnote 28: _R.I. Col. Records_, I., 266.] + +[Footnote 29: _Plymouth Col. Records_, X., 102.] + +[Footnote 30: _Mass. Col. Records_, III., 311.] + +[Footnote 31: _New Haven Col. Records_, II., 36.] + +[Footnote 32: Ibid., 37] + +[Footnote 33: _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 254.] + +[Footnote 34: Trumbull, _Connecticut_, I., 219, 220.] + +[Footnote 35: _New Haven Col. Records_, II., iii.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +EARLY NEW ENGLAND LIFE + +(1624-1652) + + +During the civil war in England the sympathies of Massachusetts, of +course, were with Parliament. New England ministers were invited to +attend the Westminster assembly of divines held in September, 1642, +and several of them returned to England. The most prominent was Rev. +Hugh Peter, who was instrumental in procuring the decapitation of +Charles I., and paid for the offence, on the restoration of Charles +II., with his own life. In 1643 Parliament passed an act[1] freeing +all commodities carried between England and New England from the +payment of "any custom, subsidy, taxation, imposition, or other duty." + +The transfer of the supreme authority to the Parliament, though hailed +with enthusiasm in New England, increased, if anything, her +confidence. In the summer of 1644 a ship bearing a commission from the +Parliament attacked and captured in the harbor of Boston another ship +friendly to the king; Massachusetts showed her displeasure by +addressing a strong protest to Parliament. Not long after another +vessel of Parliament attacked a ship belonging to persons from +Dartmouth in sympathy with the king. This time Winthrop turned the +guns of the battery upon the parliamentary captain and made him pay a +barrel of powder for his insolence.[2] + +The same summary action was adopted in regard to the growing demand +for a freer suffrage. In May, 1646, an able and respectful petition +was presented to the general court for the removal of the civil +disabilities of all members of the churches of England and Scotland, +signed by William Vassall, Samuel Maverick, Dr. Robert Child, and four +other prominent Presbyterians. The petition was pronounced seditious +and scandalous, and the petitioners were roundly fined. When Child set +out for England with his grievances, he was arrested and his baggage +searched. Then, to the horror of the rulers of Massachusetts, there +was discovered a petition addressed to Parliament, suggesting that +Presbyterianism should be established in New England and that a +general governor should be sent over. The signers, brought before the +court, were fined more heavily than before and imprisoned for six +months. At length Vassall and his friends contrived to reach England, +expecting to receive the aid of the Presbyterian party in Parliament; +but misfortune overtook them there as in Massachusetts, for the +Independents were now in control and no help could be obtained from +them.[3] + +The agitation in England in favor of Presbyterianism, and the petition +of Vassall and his friends in Massachusetts, induced the general court +in May, 1646, to invite the clergy to meet at Cambridge, "there to +discuss, dispute, and clear up, by the word of God, such questions of +church government and discipline as they should think needful and +meet," until "one form of government and discipline" should be +determined upon. The "synod" met September 1, 1646, and after +remaining in session fourteen days they adjourned. In August, 1648, +after the downfall of Presbyterianism in England, another meeting was +held, and a plan of church government was agreed upon, by which order +and unity were introduced among members theoretically independent.[4] + +By a unanimous vote the synod adopted "a platform" approving the +confession of faith of the Westminster divines, except as to those +parts which favored the Presbyterian discipline. The bond of union was +found in the right of excluding an offending church from fellowship +and of calling in the civil power for the suppression of idolatry, +blasphemy, heresy, etc. The platform recognized the prerogative of +occasional synods to give advice and admonition to churches in their +collective capacity, but general officers and permanent assemblies, +like those of the Presbyterian and Anglican churches, armed with +coercive power to act upon individuals, were disclaimed.[5] + +Nevertheless, by the organization thus effected, the benumbing +influence of the Calvinistic faith upon the intellectual life of New +England was fully established, and the deaths of John Winthrop and +John Cotton, which happened not long after, were the forerunners of +what Charles Francis Adams styles the "glacial period of +Massachusetts."[6] Both Winthrop and Cotton were believers in +aristocracy in state and church, but the bigotry of Winthrop was +relieved by his splendid business capacity and that of Cotton by his +comparative gentleness and tenderness of heart. + +"Their places were taken by two as arrant fanatics as ever +breathed"[7]--John Endicott, who was governor for thirteen out of +fifteen years following Winthrop's death, and John Norton, an able and +upright but narrow and intolerant clergyman. The persecuting spirit +which had never been absent in Massachusetts reached, under these +leaders, its climax in the wholesale hanging of Quakers and witches. + +In the year of Cotton's death (1652), which was the year that Virginia +surrendered to the Parliamentary commissioners and the authority of +the English Parliament was recognized throughout English America, the +population of New England could not have been far short of fifty +thousand. For the settlements along the sea the usual mode of +communication was by water, but there was a road along the whole coast +of Massachusetts. In the interior of the colony, as Johnson boasted, +"the wild and uncouth woods were filled with frequented ways, and the +large rivers were overlaid with bridges, passable both for horse and +foot."[8] + +All the conditions of New England tended to compress population into +small areas and to force the energies of the people into trade. +Ship-building was an early industry, and New England ships vied with +the ships of Holland and England in visiting distant countries for +commerce.[9] Manufacturing found early encouragement, and in 1639 a +number of clothiers from Yorkshire set up a fulling-mill at +Rowley.[10] A glass factory was established at Salem in 1641,[11] and +iron works at Lynn in 1643,[12] under the management of Joseph Jenks. +The keenness of the New-Englander in bargains and business became +famous. + +In Massachusetts the town was the unit of representation and taxation, +and in local matters it governed itself. The first town government +appears to have been that of Dorchester, where the inhabitants agreed, +October 8, 1633, to hold a weekly meeting "to settle and sett down +such orders as may tend to the general good."[13] Not long after a +similar meeting was held in Watertown, and the system speedily spread +to the other towns. The plan of appointing a body of "townsmen," or +selectmen, to sit between meetings of the towns began in February, +1635, in Charlestown.[14] + +The town-meeting had a great variety of business. It elected the town +officers and the deputies to the general court and made ordinances +regarding the common fields and pastures, the management of the +village herds, roadways, boundary-lines, fences, and many other +things. Qualified to share in the deliberations were all freemen and +"admitted inhabitants of honest and good conversation" rated at L20 +(equivalent to about $500 to-day).[15] + +In the prevalence of the town system popular education was rendered +possible, and a great epoch in the history of social progress was +reached when Massachusetts recognized the support of education as a +proper function of government. Boston had a school with some sort of +public encouragement in 1635,[16] and in 1642, before schools were +required by law, it was enjoined upon the selectmen to "take account +from time to time of parents and masters of the ability of the +children to read and understand the principles of religion and the +capital lawes of the country."[17] In November, 1647, a general +educational law required every town having fifty householders or more +to appoint some one to teach children how to read and write, and every +town having one hundred householders or more to establish a "grammar +(Latin) school" to instruct youth "so far as may be fitted for the +university."[18] + +In 1636 the Massachusetts assembly agreed to give L400 towards "a +schoole or Colledge,"[19] to be built at Newtown (Cambridge). In 1638 +John Harvard died within a year after his arrival, and left his +library and "one-half his estate, it being in all about L700, for the +erecting of the College." In recognition of this kindly act the +general court fitly gave his name to the institution,[20] the first +founded in the United States. + +In 1650 Connecticut copied the Massachusetts law of 1647, and a clause +declared that the grammar-schools were to prepare boys for college. +The results, however, in practice did not come up to the excellence of +the laws, and while in some towns in both Massachusetts and +Connecticut a public rate was levied for education, more generally the +parents had to pay the teachers, and they were hard to secure. When +obtained they taught but two or three months during the year.[21] Bad +spelling and wretched writing were features of the age from which New +England was not exempt. Real learning was confined, after all, to the +ministers and the richer classes in the New England colonies, pretty +much as in the mother-country. In Plymouth and Rhode Island, where the +hard conditions of life rendered any legal system of education +impracticable, illiteracy was frequent. The class of ignorant people +most often met with in New England were fishermen and the small +farmers of the inland townships. + +Scarcity of money was felt in New England as in Virginia, and resort +was had to the use of wampum as a substitute,[22] and corn, cattle, +and other commodities were made legal tenders in payment of debts.[23] +In 1652 a mint was established at Boston, and a law was passed +providing for the coinage of all bullion, plate, and Spanish coin into +"twelve-penny, sixpenny, and threepenny pieces." The master of the +mint was John Hull, and the shillings coined by him were called +"Pine-Tree Shillings," because they bore on one side the legend +"Massachusetts" encircling a tree.[24] + +Marriage was a mere civil contract, and the burials took place without +funeral service or sermon. Stern laws were made against card-playing, +long hair, drinking healths, and wearing certain articles, such as +gold and silver girdles, hat-bands, belts, ruffs, and beaver hats. +There were no Christmas festivals and no saints' days nor recognized +saints, though special feasts and thanksgiving days were frequent.[25] +The penal legislation of New England was harsh and severe, and in +Massachusetts and Connecticut there were fifteen crimes punishable +with death, while the law took hold also of innumerable petty +offences. In addition the magistrates had a discretionary authority, +and they often punished persons on mere suspicion. + +There can be no doubt that the ideal of the educated Puritan was lofty +and high, and that society in New England was remarkably free from the +ordinary frivolities and immoralities of mankind; but it would seem +that human nature exacted a severe retaliation for the undue +suppression of its weaknesses. There are in the works of Bradford and +Winthrop, as well as in the records of the colonies, evidence which +shows that the streams of wickedness in New England were "dammed" and +not dried up. At intervals the impure waters broke over the obstacles +in their way, till the record of crime caused the good Bradford "to +fear and tremble at the consideration of our corrupt natures."[26] + +The conveniences of town life gave opportunities for literature not +enjoyed by the Virginians, and, though his religion cut the Puritan +almost entirely off from the finer fields of poetry and arts, New +England in the period of which we have been considering was strong in +history and theology. Thus the works of Bradford and Winthrop and of +Hooker and Cotton compare favorably with the best productions of their +contemporaries in England, and contrast with the later writers of +Cotton Mather's "glacial period," when, under the influence of the +theocracy, "a lawless and merciless fury for the odd, the disorderly, +the grotesque, the violent, strained analogies, unexpected images, +pedantics, indelicacies, freaks of allusion, and monstrosities of +phrase" were the traits of New England literature.[27] + +[Footnote 1: N.H. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, I., 323-326.] + +[Footnote 2: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 222-224, 228, 238-240.] + +[Footnote 3: _New England's Jonas Cast Up at London_ (Force, _Tracts_, +IV., No. iii.); Winthrop, _New England_, II., 319, 340, 358, 391.] + +[Footnote 4: Winthrop, _New England_, II., 329, 330, 402.] + +[Footnote 5: Mather, _Magnalia_, book V.] + +[Footnote 6: Adams, _Massachusetts, its Historians and its History_, +59.] + +[Footnote 7: Fiske, _Beginnings of New England_, 179.] + +[Footnote 8: Johnson, _Wonder Working Providence,_ book III., chap. +i.] + +[Footnote 9: Weeden, _Econ. and Soc. Hist. of New England,_ I., 143.] + +[Footnote 10: Palfrey, _New England,_ II., 53.] + +[Footnote 11: _Mass. Col. Records,_ I., 344.] + +[Footnote 12: Weeden, _Econ. and Soc. Hist. of New England,_ I., 174.] + +[Footnote 13: Clapp, _Dorchester,_ 32.] + +[Footnote 14: Frothingham, _Charlestown,_ 51.] + +[Footnote 15: Howard, _Local Constitutional History,_ I., 66.] + +[Footnote 16: Palfrey, _New England,_ II., 47.] + +[Footnote 17: _Mass. Col. Records,_ II., 9.] + +[Footnote 18: Ibid., 203.] + +[Footnote 19: Ibid., I., 183.] + +[Footnote 20: Ibid., 253.] + +[Footnote 21: Weeden, _Econ. and Soc. Hist., of New England_, I., 282, +II., 861.] + +[Footnote 22: Weeden, _Indian Money as a Factor in New England +Colonization_ (_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, II., Nos. viii., +ix.).] + +[Footnote 23: _Mass. Col. Records_, 110; _Conn. Col. Records_, I., 8.] + +[Footnote 24: _Mass. Col. Records_, IV., pt. i., 84, 118.] + +[Footnote 25: Howe, _Puritan Republic,_ 102, 110, 111.] + +[Footnote 26: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation,_ 459.] + +[Footnote 27: Tyler, _American Literature,_ II., 87.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CRITICAL ESSAY ON AUTHORITIES + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AIDS + + +Four special bibliographies of American history are serviceable upon +the field of this volume. First, most searching and most voluminous, +is Justin Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of America_ (8 +vols., 1888-1889). Mr. Winsor has added to the study of the era of +colonization by the writers of his co-operative work the vast wealth +of his own bibliographical knowledge. The part of Winsor applicable to +this volume is found in vol. III., in which most of the printed +contemporary material is enumerated. The second bibliography is the +_Cambridge Modern History,_ VII. (1903); pages 757-765 include a brief +list of selected titles conveniently classified. J.N. Lamed, +_Literature of American History, a Bibliographical Guide_ (1902), has +brief critical estimates of the authorities upon colonial history. +Channing and Hart, _Guide to the Study of American History_ (1896), +contains accounts of state and local histories (Sec. 23), books of travel +(Sec. 24), biography (Sec. 25), colonial records (Sec. 29), proceedings of +learned societies (Sec. 31), also a series of consecutive topics with +specific references (Sec.Sec. 92-98, 100, 101, 109-124). For the field of +the present volume a short road to the abundant sources of material is +through the footnotes of the principal secondary works enumerated +below. The critical chapters in _The American Nation,_ vols. III. and +V., contain appreciations of many authorities which also bear on the +field of vol. IV. + + +GENERAL SECONDARY WORKS + +The "Foundation" period, from 1574 to 1652, is naturally one of the +most interesting in the annals of the American colonies. The most +important general historians are George Bancroft, _History of the +United States_ (rev. ed., 6 vols., 1883-1885); J.A. Doyle, _English +Colonies in America_ (3 vols., 1882-1887); Richard Hildreth, _History +of the United States_ (6 vols., 1849-1852); George Chalmers, +_Political Annals of the American Colonies_ (1780); Justin Winsor, +_Narrative and Critical History of America_ (8 vols., 1888-1889); John +Fiske, _Discovery of America_ (2 vols., 1892), _Old Virginia and Her +Neighbors_ (1900), _Beginnings of New England_ (1898), _Dutch and +Quaker Colonies in America, New France and New England_ (1902). + +Among these writers three have conspicuous merit--Doyle, Winsor, and +Fiske. Doyle's volumes manifest a high degree of philosophic +perception and are accurate in statement and broad in conclusions. Of +his books the volumes on the Puritan colonies are distinctly of a +higher order than his volume on the southern colonies. The chief merit +of Winsor's work is the critical chapters and parts of narrative +chapters, which are invaluable. John Fiske is not wanting in the +qualities of a great historian--breadth of mind and accuracy of +statement; but his great charm is in his style and his power of +vivifying events long forgotten. He has probably come nearer than any +one else to writing real history so as to produce a popular effect. + + +COLLECTIONS OF SOURCES + +The main contemporary collectors of materials for the history of the +early voyages to America were Richard Eden, Richard Hakluyt, and +Samuel Purchas. Eden's _Decades of the New World or West Indies_ (7 +vols., 1555) consists of abstracts of the works of foreign +writers--Peter Martyr, Oviedo, Gomara, Ramusio, Ziegler, Pigafetta, +Munster, Bastaldus, Vespucius, and others. Richard Hakluyt first +published _Divers Voyages_ (1582; reprinted by the Hakluyt Society) +and then his _Principal Voyages_ (3 vols., folio, 1589; reissued +1600). Samuel Purchas's first volume appeared in 1613 under the title, +_Purchas: His Pilgrimage of the World, or Religions Observed in all +Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation unto this Present_. The +four subsequent volumes were published in 1623 under the title, +_Hakluytius Posthumous, or, Purchas: His Pilgrimes._ + +Among these three compilers Hakluyt enjoys pre-eminence, and the +Hakluyt Society has supplemented his labors by publishing in full some +of the narratives which Hakluyt, for reasons of accuracy or want of +space, abbreviated. _The Historie of Travaile into Virginia_, by +William Strachey, secretary to Lord Delaware, was published by the +Hakluyt Society in 1848, and this book contains excellent accounts of +the expeditions sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke, the voyages of +Bartholomew Gosnold and George Weymouth, and the settlement made under +its charter by the Plymouth Company at Sagadahoc, or Kennebec. + +The only official collection of documentary materials that covers the +entire period is the _Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, +America and West Indies, 1574-1696_ (9 vols., 1860-1903). George +Sainsbury, the editor, was a master at catching the salient points of +a manuscript. Many of his abstracts have elsewhere been published in +full. + +The principal private collectors are E. Hazard, _State Papers_ (2 +vols., 1792-1794); Peter Force, _Tracts_ (4 vols., 1836-1846); +Alexander Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ (2 vols., 1891); +Albert Bushnell Hart, _American History Told by Contemporaries_ (4 +vols., 1898-1902); Maryland Historical Society, _Archives of +Maryland_; and the series called _Documents Relating to the Colonial +History of New York_, edited by John Romeyn Brodhead. Two convenient +volumes embodying many early writings are Stedman and Hutchinson, +_Library of American Literature_, I. (1888); Moses Coit Tyler, +_History of American Literature During the Colonial Time, 1607-1676_, +I. (1897). + + +VIRGINIA + +The standard authorities for the history of Virginia are Robert +Beverley, _History of Virginia_ (1722) (extends to Spotswood's +administration); William Stith, _History of Virginia_ (1747) (period +of the London Company); John D. Burk, _History of Virginia_ (4 vols., +1805); R.R. Howison, _History of Virginia_ (2 vols., 1846); Charles +Campbell, _History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia_ +(1847); and Jonn Fiske, _Old Virginia and Her Neighbors_ (1900). For +the period Stith is by far the most important. His work covers the +duration of the London Company, and as he had access to manuscripts +now destroyed the history has the value of an original document. As +president of William and Mary College Stith was an accomplished +scholar, and his work, pervaded with a broad, philosophic spirit, +ranks perhaps first among colonial histories. As a mere collection of +facts upon the whole colonial history of Virginia Campbell's work is +the most useful. The greatest collection of original material bearing +upon the first ten years of the colony's history is in Alexander +Brown, _Genesis of the United States_ (2 vols., 1890). This remarkable +work contains an introductory sketch of what has been done by +Englishmen prior to 1606 in the way of discovery and colonization, and +a catalogue of charters, letters, and pamphlets (many of them +republished at length) through which the events attending the first +foundation of an English colony in the New World are developed in +order of time. Dr. Brown's other works, _The First Republic in +America_ (1898), and _English Politics in America_ (1901) make +excellent companion pieces to the _Genesis_, though the author has +made a great mistake in not supporting his text with foot-notes and +references. + +Among the contemporary writers, John Smith, _Works_ (1884), edited by +Edward Arber, is a compilation rather than a history, and in spite of +its partisan coloring contains much that is valuable regarding +Virginia affairs from 1607 to 1629. For matters from 1619-1624 we have +the sure guide of the London Company's _Journal,_ in Virginia +Historical Society, _Collections_, new series, VII. After that time +the main dependence, apart from the _Calendar of State Papers,_ is +Hening, _Statutes at Large of Virginia_ (13 vols., 1823). The leading +incidents in Virginia connected with Lord Baltimore's colony of +Maryland and the Puritan persecution are set forth by J.H. Latane, +_Early Relations of Maryland and Virginia_ (_Johns Hopkins University +Studies,_ XIII., Nos. iii., iv.) Many documents illustrative of this +period may be read in Force, _Tracts,_ and Hazard, _State Papers;_ +Virginia history is illuminated by many original documents printed in +the _Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_ (11 vols., +1893-1903); and the _William and Mary College Quarterly_ (12 vols., +1892-1903). The works of Edward D. Neill are also of a documentary +nature and of much value. Those which bear upon Virginia are _The +Virginia Company_ (1868), _Virginia Carolorum_ (1886), _Virginia +Vestusta_ (1885), and _Virginia and Virginiola_ (1878). Many tracts +are cited in the foot-notes. + + +MARYLAND + +The standard authorities for the history of Maryland are J.V.L. +McMahon, _Historical View of the Government of Maryland_ (1831); John +Leeds Bozman, _History of Maryland_ (2 vols., 1837, covering the +period of 1634 to 1658); James McSherry, _History of Maryland_ (1849); +J.T. Scharf, _History of Maryland_ (3 vols., 1879); William Hand +Browne, _History of Maryland_ (1893), and _George and Cecilius +Calvert_ (1893); Edward D. Neill, _Founders of Maryland_ (1876), and +_Terra Mariae_ (1867). Of these Bozman's work is an invaluable magazine +of information, being, in fact, as much a calendar of documents as a +continuous narrative. William Hand Browne's books show great +familiarity with the story of Maryland and its founders, but his +treatment of the subject is marked by strong bias and partisanship in +favor of Lord Baltimore and his government. Neill's books, on the +other hand, argue strongly in favor of the Puritan influence on the +history of Maryland. There are many interesting pamphlets relating to +Maryland in the series of _Johns Hopkins University Studies_, such as +Edward Ingle, _Parish Institutions of Maryland_, I., No. vi.; John +Hensley Johnson, _Old Maryland Manors_, I., No. vii.; Lewis W. +Wilhelm, _Maryland Local Institutions_, III., Nos. v., vi., vii.; D.R. +Randall, _The Puritan Colony at Annapolis, Maryland_, IV., No. vi.; +J.H. Latane, _Early Relations of Virginia and Maryland_, XIII., Nos. +iii., iv., and Bernard C. Steiner, _The Beginnings of Maryland_. + +The documentary material of Maryland is very extensive, as the State +has been fortunate in preserving most of its colonial records. _The +Archives of Maryland_ (23 vols., 1889-1903), published by the Maryland +Historical Society, is composed of the proceedings of the council, +legislature, and provincial court. The _Fund Publications_ of the +society (36 nos. in 4 vols., 1867-1900), are also valuable in this +respect, and contain among other things _The Calvert Papers_ (_Fund +Publications_, No. 34). A complete list of all these publications can +be found in the annual report of the society for 1902. + +For the controversy between Lord Baltimore and the Puritans the chief +authorities are Winthrop, _History of New England_ (2 vols., +1790-1853); _Lord Baltimore's Case Concerning the Province of +Maryland_ (1653); _Virginia and Maryland, or Lord Baltimore's Case +Uncased and Answered_ (Force, _Tracts_, II., No. ix.); Leonard Strong, +_Babylon's Fall in Maryland, a Fair Warning to Lord Baltimore_; John +Langford, _A Just and Clere Reputation of Babylon's Fall_ (1655); John +Hammond, _Leah and Rachel_ (Force, Tracts, III., No. xiv.); _Hammond +versus Heamans, or an Answer to an Audacious Prophet;_ Heamans, _Brief +Narrative of the Late Bloody Designs Against the Protestants._ The +battle of the Severn is described in the letters of Luke Barber and +Mrs. Stone, published in Bozman, _Maryland_, II., 688. + + +PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS + +The standard authorities for the history of these two colonies are +Thomas Hutchinson, _History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay_ (3 +vols., 1795-1828); John G. Palfrey, _History of New England_ (3 vols., +1858-1890); J.S. Barry, _History of Massachusetts_ (3 vols., +1855-1857). Very lively and interesting are Charles Francis Adams, +_Massachusetts: Its Historians and Its History_ (1893); _Three +Episodes of the History of Massachusetts_ (2 vols., 1895). The best +account of Plymouth is J.E. Goodwin, _The Pilgrim Republic_ (1888). + +The chief original authority for the early history of the Puritan +colony of New Plymouth is William Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_ +(several eds.); and for Massachusetts, John Winthrop, _History of New +England_ (several eds.), which is, however, a journal rather than a +history. Edward Arber, _Story of the Pilgrim Fathers as Told by +Themselves_ (1897), is a collection of ill-arranged sources. The +documentary sources are numerous. Hazard prints many documents bearing +upon the early history of Massachusetts, and much valuable matter is +found in the _Records of Plymouth_ (12 vols., 1855-1859), and the +_Records of Massachusetts Bay_ (5 vols., 1853-1854). Then there are +the published records of numerous towns, which throw much light upon +the political, social, and economic condition of the colonies. The +publications of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the New +England Historic-Genealogical Society contain much original matter and +many interesting articles upon the early history of both Plymouth and +Massachusetts. Special tracts and documents are referred to in the +foot-notes to chaps, ix.-xiii., above. + + +RHODE ISLAND + +The general histories are J.N. Arnold, _History of the State of Rhode +Island and Providence Plantation_ (2 vols., 1878), and Irving B. +Richman, _Rhode Island, Its Making and Meaning_ (2 vols., 1902). The +chief original authorities for the early history of Rhode Island are +John Winthrop, _History of New England_, and the _Colonial Records_, +beginning in 1636. The publications of the Rhode Island Historical +Society consist of _Collections_ (9 vols.), _Proceedings_ (21 +numbers), and _Publications_ (8 vols.). In all of these important +material for history is preserved. The Narragansett Club, +_Publications_ (6 vols.), contain Roger Williams's letters; and there +is some important matter in S.S. Rider, _Rhode Island Historical +Tracts_ (1877-1895), in the _Narragansett Historical Register_ (9 +vols.), and the _Newport Historical Reports_ (4 vols.). + + +CONNECTICUT AND NEW HAVEN + +For Connecticut the standard authority is Benjamin Trumbull, _History +of Connecticut_ (2 vols., 1818). Other general histories are by +Theodore Dwight, G.H. Hollister, and W.H. Carpenter. Original material +is found in the _Colonial Records_, edited by J.H. Trumbull and C.J. +Hoadly; Winthrop, _History of New England_; Connecticut Historical +Society, _Proceedings_, which contain Hooker's famous letter to +Winthrop; and Massachusetts Historical Society, _Collections_. + +For New Haven the reader should consult Edward E. Atwater, _History of +New Haven_ (1881); Charles H. Levermore, _Republic of New Haven_ +(1886); and the publications of the New Haven Historical Society and +the _Records of the Colony of New Haven_, in which the documentary +material is chiefly printed. In connection with this volume the +records of Hartford and of Southold are important. Special authorities +are cited in chaps, xiv., xv. above. + + +NEW HAMPSHIRE AND MAINE + +The standard authority for the history of New Hampshire is Jeremy +Belknap, _History of New Hampshire_ (3 vols., 1784-1813); and that for +Maine is William D. Williamson, _History of Maine_ (2 vols., 1832). +Documents illustrating the history of New Hampshire can be found in +the _New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers_ and in John Scribner +Jenness, _Transcripts of Original Documents in the English Archives +Relating to the Early History of the State of New Hampshire_ (1876). + +Important papers occur in the ten volumes of _Collections_ published +by the New Hampshire Historical Society. For Maine the reader is +referred to the _Collections_ of the Massachusetts Historical Society +and those of the Maine Historical Society. Important original material +may be found in _York Deeds_ (11 vols., 1642-1726). + +For the early history of both colonies John Winthrop, _History of New +England_, is the principal original authority. The narrative of Gorges +has some value in connection with both colonies. Special tracts and +documents are treated in chap, xvi., above. + + +DUTCH COLONY OF NEW NETHERLAND + +The standard authorities for the early history of this colony are E.B. +O'Callaghan, _History of New Netherland_ (2 vols., 1855), and John +Romeyn Brodhead, _History of the State of New York_ (2 vols., 1872). +The voyage of Henry Hudson is told in Purchas; and the _Documents +Relating to the History of New York_ (15 vols., 1856-1861) collected +by John Romeyn Brodhead shed light on the early Dutch trading-post at +New Amsterdam. The first mention by the English of the Dutch on the +Hudson is made in a work republished in the _Collections_ of the +Massachusetts Historical Society (2d series, IX., 1-25), in which it +is stated that an English sea-captain, Dermer, "met on his voyage from +[Virginia to New England] with certain Hollanders who had a trade in +Hudson River some years before that time, 1619." + +For the relations of the Dutch with the English the main authorities +are William Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_; John Winthrop, _History of +New England_; the "Proceedings of the Federal Commissioners," +published in _Plymouth Colony Records_, IX., X., and _New Haven +Records_, and Hazard, _State Papers_, II.; and Peter de Vries, +_Journal_ (N.Y. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d series, III.). + + +NEW SWEDEN + +The founding of New Sweden is probably best told in Benjamin Ferris, +_History of the Original Settlements on the Delaware_ (1846), +extracted from works already published in English, and is interesting +and valuable as identifying and describing many of the places +mentioned. Winthrop and the records of the federal commissioners set +out pretty fully the relations with the English colonies. + + +NEW FRANCE AND ACADIA + +A series of chapters in Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of +America_ (vol. IV., chaps, i.-iv.) tell the story of the founding of +the French dominion in America. The chief original authorities are +Richard Hakluyt, _Voyages_; Samuel de Champlain, _Les Voyages_; Marc +Lescarbot, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_; and the _Jesuit +Relations_. + +For relations with the English the chief original authority is +Winthrop. Among the late French writers the pre-eminence is accorded +to the Jesuit father Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix, _Histoire +de la Nouvelle France_. + + +RIVALRY WITH SPAIN + +The rivalry of England with Spain, which is the greatest underlying +principle of English colonization, is depicted fully in Hakluyt, +_Discourses on Western Planting_, written at Raleigh's request and +shown to Queen Elizabeth; first printed in 1877 by Dr. Charles Deane +in the Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_ (2d series, II.). The lives of +Gilbert and Raleigh were manifestations of this spirit of rivalry, and +Edward Edwards, _Life of Sir Walter Raleigh_ (2 vols., 1868), contains +the fullest and best account extant of the two half-brothers. In an +excellent little work, _Thomas Hariot and His Associates_ (1900), +developed by Henry Stevens chiefly from dormant material, we have a +most entertaining and interesting account of Thomas Hariot, Sir +Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, Jacques Le Moyne, Captain John +White, and other noble spirits associated in the colonization of +America. Compare the critical chapter of E.G. Bourne, _Spain in +America_ (_The American Nation_, III.). + + +RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES + +Religious influences entered largely into the settlement and +development of the different colonies in America. The chief +authorities on the subject are James Carwithen, _History of the Church +of England_ (1849); Daniel Neal, _History of the Puritans_ (1844); +Anderson, _History of the Church of England in the Colonies_ (2 vols., +2d ed., 1856); William Stevens Perry, _History of the American +Episcopal Church_ (2 vols., 1885); Francis Lister Hawks, +_Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States_ (2 +vols., 1836-1839). William Meade, _Old Churches in Virginia_ (2 vols., +1857), tells much about the early church in Virginia. In the _Johns +Hopkins University Studies_ are Paul E. Lauer, _Church and State in +New England_, X., Nos. ii., iii.; and George Petrie, _Church and State +in Maryland_, X., No. iv. + + +SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS + +For Virginia the economic side has been fully presented by Philip A. +Bruce in his _Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century_ +(2 vols., 1896). The social side during the period of the present +volume has not been thoroughly covered by any modern writer. For +Maryland no detailed statement can be found, but much valuable +information is contained in Newton D. Mereness, _Maryland as a +Proprietary Province_ (1901). For New England the social and economic +status is fully presented by William B. Weeden, _Economic and Social +History of New England_ (2 vols., 1891). John G. Palfrey, _History of +New England_ (4 vols.), has also several valuable chapters on the +subject. Edward Eggleston, _Beginners of a Nation_ (1897) and _Transit +of Civilization_ (1900) deal very appreciatively with social elements +and conditions. + + +INDEX + +Acadia, Argall's raid, 72, 149, 289; + attacks on Plymouth posts, 176, 177; + settlement, 287; + English grant and rule, 289; + restored to France, 290; + La Tour-Aulnay dissension, 290, 306-309; + bibliography, 337. + +Agamenticus. _See_ York. + +Alexander, Sir William, grants, 207, 289, 294; + expedition against Canada, 289; + protests restoration, 290. + +Antinomian controversy, 219-228; + Anne Hutchinson's doctrines, 219; + factions, 220, 221; + ministerial conferences, 220, 225; + political aspect, 221-225; + Antinomians banished, 226-228; + effect, 228. + +Archer, Gabriel, in Virginia, 43, 52, 54, 63. + +Argall, Samuel, relieves Virginia, 59, 63, 68; + deputy governor, 70, 77; + captures Pocahontas, 71; + raids on Acadia, 72, 149, 289; + tyranny, 77, 78; + colonizing plan, 292. + +Assistants, in Plymouth, 179; + in Massachusetts, elective, 188, 203; + permanent tenure, 201, 202; + as a court, 202, 203; + legislative power, 203; + in Connecticut, 258; + tenure, 259. + +Aulnay, Sieur d', in Acadia, quarrel with La Tour 290, 306-309. + +Baltimore, Cecilius, Lord, early years, character, 123; + power as proprietary, 123-126; + religious toleration, 125, 126, 139, 140, 143, 144; + control of legislation, 131, 133; + and Kent Island affair, 135-138; + deposed by king, 142, 145; + and Parliament, 143, 145-147. + +Baltimore, George, Lord, early years, 118; + settlement in Newfoundland, 118, 119; + Catholic, 119; + ennobled, 119; + in Virginia, 119; + seeks grant in Virginia, 119-121; + first charter, 121; + opposition of Virginia, 120-123; + Maryland charter, 121; + death, 122. + +Baptists, in Rhode Island, 237; + persecuted in Massachusetts, 238. + +Bennett, Richard, commissioner, 111, 112; + governor of Virginia, 113; + in Maryland, 147. + +Berkeley, Sir William, royalist governor of Virginia, 105; + and Puritans, 106, 108; + and parliamentary commission, 112. + +Bermudas, Gates at, 62. + +Bibliographies of period 1574-1652, 328. + +Bicameral legislatures, 93, 133, 203, 258. + +Boston, Blackstone's house, 175; + settled, 198. + +Boundaries, Virginia charter (1606), 37; (1609), 61; + Maryland charter, 121; + New England charter, 152; + Plymouth, 173; + Massachusetts charter, 184, 270, 279; + Rhode Island charter, 235; + New Netherland charter, 292, 313; + Massachusetts-Plymouth, 298; + Massachusetts-Connecticut, 304; + New England-New Netherland, 313, 314. + +Bradford, William, Separatist, 156; + in Leyden, 158; + emigrates, 160; + governor of Plymouth, 164. + +Brewster, William, Separatist, 155; + in Leyden, 157; + emigrates, 160; + minister in Plymouth, 181. + +Brooke, Lord, grant in Connecticut, 248; + buys Dover, 268, 271. + +Cabot, John, voyage, 6. + +Cabot, Sebastian, and English trade, 8. + +Calvert, Leonard, governor of Maryland, 126; + Kent Island affair, 135-138; + letters of marque, 140; + driven from Maryland, 141; + regains control, 142; + death, 143. + +Cambridge platform, 320, 321. + +Canada, French voyages, 284; + Roberval's colony, 285; + colonizing company, 286; + Quebec settled, 288; + origin of Iroquois hostility, 288; + company reorganized, 288; + supplies captured, 289; + Alexander's grant, 289; + English capture, 290; + restored to France, 290; + and Massachusetts' trade, 309; + bibliography, 337. + +Cape Ann, Plymouth claim, 170; + Dorchester settlers, 170; + trouble, 171; + settlement moved, 183. + +Cartier, Jacques, voyages, 284, 285. + +Carver, John, Separatist, in Leyden, 158; + seeks patent, 150; + emigrates, 160; + governor of Plymouth, 161; + death, 164. + +Casco. See Falmouth. + +Catholics, in Maryland, 126, 139, 140; + missionaries in Canada, 287, 288, 290. + +Cavendish, Thomas, voyage, 13; + with Raleigh's colony, 23. + +Challons, Henry, attempted settlement, 39. + +Champlain, Samuel, first visit to Canada, 286; + in Acadia, 287; + settles Quebec, 288; + attacks Iroquois, 288; + surrenders, 290; + return to Canada, 290. + +Chancellor, Richard, voyage, 8. + +Charles I., and Virginia, 91-96, 99, 105, 120; + and Baltimore, 120; + and Kent Island, 136-138; + and Massachusetts, 204-209. + +Charlestown, Walford's settlement, 175; + laid out, named, 190; + sickness, 196, 198. + +Charters, Merchant Adventurers (1554), 8; + trading (1566), 14; + Gilbert (1578), 15; + Raleigh (1584), 22; + Virginia (1606), 36-38; (1609), 59-61; (1612), 76; annulled, 88; + Virginia parliamentary, 105; + Maryland (1632), 122-126; + New England (1620), 152; resigned, 207; + Massachusetts, (1629), 188, 189; + Rhode Island (1644), 235; + Gorges (1637), 275. + _See also_ Grants. + +Chelsea, settled, 175. + +Church of England in Virginia, 80, 106; + improved ministry, 110. + +Claiborne, William, Kent Island settlement, 95, 134; + and Harvey, 96; + commissioner, 111, 112; + opposes Baltimore's charter, 121; + career, 121; + denies Baltimore's authority, 135; + arrest ordered, 136; + appeals to king, 136, 137; + conflict on island, 136; + treachery of Evelin, 137; + island seized, 138; + attainted, 138; + claim invalidated, 138; + property confiscated, 138; + return to Kent Island, 142; + ascendency in Maryland, 147. + +Cocheco. _See_ Dover. + +Coddington, William, in Rhode Island, 229, 237; + royal commission, 237, 238. + +Colonies, English, Gilbert's charter, 15; + immunities, 16; + Gilbert's attempts, 16-21; + debt to Raleigh, 32; + Gosnold and Gilbert's attempt, 34; + joint-stock companies, 36; + royal administration, 96, 206; + connected history, 282; + bibliography, 329-331; + bibliography on religious influences, 338; + bibliography on social and economic conditions, 338. + _See also_ colonies and companies by name. + +Colonies, French. _See_ Acadia, Canada. + +Colonies, Spanish, influence on Spain, 4; + and Hawkins, 9, 10; + Drake's attacks, 11, 12; + Cavendish plunders, 13; + bibliography on English relations, 337. + +Commission for Foreign Plantations, 96, 206. + +Communism in Virginia, 59, 73, 77, 79; + in Plymouth, 167. + +Conant, Roger, in Massachusetts, 170, 171, 183. + +Congregationalism, beginnings, 154; + established in Massachusetts, 190, 196, 201, 202, 210; + disclaimed, 194, 197; + Massachusetts clergy, 200, 205; + opposition, 211, 212; + Antinomian controversy, 219-228; + in Connecticut, 258; + in New Haven, 263; + Cambridge platform, 320; + effect, 321. + _See also_ Pilgrims. + +Connecticut, elements, 239; + Plymouth's interest, 240-242, 245; + Dutch in, 241, 249, 310, 316; + migration from Massachusetts, 242-247; + settled by organized communities, 247; + Saltonstall's settlement, 248; + Saybrook, 249; + union of settlements, 250; + Pequot War, 251-257; + Fundamental Orders, 257-259; + suffrage, 258; + theocracy, 258; + tenure of office, 259; + growth, 259, 260; + acquires Fenwick patent, 260; + population (1653), 260; + Massachusetts boundary, 304; + river tolls, 304-306; + bibliography, 335. + _See also_ New England. + +Constitutions, Connecticut (1639), 257-259. + +Cotton, John, in Massachusetts, 205; + character, 218, 243, 321; + and Antinomianism, 220, 223, 226, 227; + death, 321. + +Council in Maryland, 129. + _See also_ Assistants. + +Council for New England, charter, 152; + territory, 152; + patent to Plymouth, 164; + grant to Weston, 166; + fishing monopoly endangered, 167; + temporary activity, 168; + division, 168, 185; + discouraged, 169; + grant to Massachusetts, 184; + conflicting grants, 185; + redivision, 207; + resigns charter, 207; + grants to Mason and Gorges, 266, 268; + other Maine grants, 274-277. + _See also_ Plymouth Company. + +Courts, Maryland, 129; + New England codes, 180, 203, 326; + assistants, in Massachusetts, 202, 203; + New Haven, 265. + +Dale, Sir Thomas, deputy governor of Virginia, policy and discipline, 70; + and Indians, 71; + expeditions against French, 72; + abolishes communism, 73; + departs, 74. + +Davenport, John, purpose, 260; + in Boston, 261; + settles New Haven, 261; + organizes government, 262. + +Davis, John, voyages, 15. + +Delaware, Lord, governor of Virginia, 61, 78; + arrival, 67, 68; + administration, 68, 69; + death, 78. + +Delaware River, named, 72; + Dutch on, 293; + Dutch and Virginians, 294; + Swedes on, 296; + New Haven on, 296, 311, 315. + +Denys, Jean, voyage, 284. + +Dorchester, settled, 198; + restless, 242; + emigration to Connecticut, 245, 246; + settles Windsor, 247; + town government, 323. + +Dorchester adventurers, settlement, 170; + renewed activity, 183; + patent, 184. + _See also_ Massachusetts. + +Dover (Cocheco), settlement, 175, 267; + feeble existence, 268; + Puritans control, 268; + Antinomian settlers, 269; + dissensions, 269; + civil contract, 270; + annexed by Massachusetts, 271. + +Drake, Sir Francis, with Hawkins, 10; + early years, 10; + attack on Panama, 11; + on Pacific settlements, 12; + circumnavigation, 12; + Elizabeth's reception, 13; + rescues Raleigh's colony, 25. + +Dudley, Thomas, agrees to emigrate, 193; + deputy governor of Massachusetts, 193, 224; + disclaims Separatism, 197; + governor, 200, 215. + +Eaton, Theophilus, purpose, 260; + governor of New Haven, 263. + +Economic condition, England (1606), 39; + Virginia (1648), 110; + New England (1652), 322; + money in New England, 325. + +Education, in Virginia, 116, 117; + in Maryland, 147; + in Plymouth, 181; + public, in Massachusetts, 323; + Harvard College, 324; + in Connecticut, 324; + extent in New England, 325. + +Eliot, John, contumacy, 211; + Indian mission, 303. + +Elizabeth, and Hawkins, 10; + and Drake, 13; + and Frobisher, 14; + and Gilbert, 15, 18; + and Raleigh, 21; + names Virginia, 23; + support of Protestantism, 28; + and Puritans, 153. + +Endicott, John, grantee, 184; + at Salem, 186; + suppresses Merry Mount, 186; + anticipates Oldham, 190; + Congregationalist, 190; + banishes Conformists, 191; + and Morton, 192; + defaces flag, 206; + expedition against Pequots, 252; + character, 321. + +England, spirit of progress, 3, 4; + religious conditions, 5; + Spanish rivalry, 5; + claim to America, 6; + unprepared for colonization, 7; + fisheries, 7; + trade development (1550) 8; + slave-trade, 8-10; + trade under Mary, 9; + private attacks on Spanish colonies, 10-13; + search for northwest passage, 14; + Spanish war, 28-30, 35; + Armada, 30; + economic condition (1606), 39; + Puritanism, 153; + Separatism, 154-156; + and French colonies, 289; + and New Netherland, 292; + bibliography on Spanish relations, 337. + _See also_ colonies, and sovereigns by name. + +Evelin, George, and Kent Island, 137. + +Exeter, settled, 269; + civil contract, 270; + annexed by Massachusetts, 272. + +Falmouth (Casco), Cleves at, 277; + submits to Massachusetts, 281. + +Fenwick, George, patent, 260, 304. + +Ferdinando, Simon, voyage, 17. + +Fisheries, English interests, 9; + New England monopoly, 168. + +Frobisher, Martin, voyages, 14. + +Fur-trade, New England monopoly, 168; + French grants, 286, 287; + Dutch, 291, 293. + +Gates, Sir Thomas, governor of Virginia, 61, 70; + at Bermudas, 62; + at Jamestown, 62, 67. + +Gilbert, Bartholomew, attempted colony, 34. + +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, purpose, 6; + early years, 13; + first efforts, 14; + pamphlet, 14; + charter, 15; + first expedition, 16; + preparation for second, 17; + second, 18-21; + death, 20. + +Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, career, 151; + colonial activity, 151; + opposition to Massachusetts, 187, 204-209; + grants, 207, 266, 268; + general governor, 208; + Massachusetts annexes grant, 209, 279, 280; + settlements in territory, 272-274, 276, 277; + charter and regulations, 275; + and Plough patent, 277, 278; + death, 278. + +Gorges, John, patent, 187; + grant to Oldham, 187; + heir, 274. + +Gorges, Robert, settlement, 168; + and Weston, 169; + grant, 185, 186; + heir, 187. + +Gorton, Samuel, settlement, 230, 233; + character, 232; + trouble with Massachusetts, 232-234; + banished, 234; + return, 234. + +Gosnold, Bartholomew, attempted colony, 34; + in Virginia, 42, 49; + death, 51. + +Governors, Virginia, under charter, 61, 79, 80; + elective, in Plymouth, 179; + in Massachusetts, 199, 202; + in Connecticut, 258, 259; + in New Haven, 263, 264. + +Grants, Heath (1629), 120; + Pilgrims, 159, 164, 172; + Weston (1622), 166; + Pierce (1623), 167; + Massachusetts (1628), 184; + conflicting, 185; + Mason and Gorges (1622), 185, 266; (1629), 267, 268; (1631), 268; + R. Gorges (1622) 185; + Sheffield (1623) 185; + E. Gorges (1623), 185; + division of New England (1635), 207; + Say and Brooke (1631), 248; + various, in Maine, 274, 276; + Plough, 277; + Monts. (1604), 286; + Alexander (1621, 1628), 289; + Plowden (1632), 294. + _See also_ Charters. + +Grenville, Sir Richard, and Gilbert's plan, 15; + conducts Raleigh's colony, 23, 26; + captures Spanish ship, 24; + death, 24. + +Hakluyt, Richard, and Gilbert's plan, 15, 17; + Western Planting, 22; + buys trade right, 31; + trade venture, 35; + instructions to settlers, 42. + +Hanham, Thomas, voyage, 39. + +Hartford, Dutch fort, 241, 310, 316; + English settlers, 247. + +Harvard College, 324. + +Harvey, John, governor of Virginia, 93; + conduct, 96; + deposed, 97, 136; + reinstated, 98; + called to account, 104. + +Hawkins, Sir John, slave-trade, 9; + attacked by Spanish, 10. + +Hawkins, William, slave-trade, 8. + +Haynes, John, governor of Connecticut, 200; + effort for confederation, 297. + +Higginson, Francis, minister at Salem, 191; + death, 198. + +Hooker, Thomas, in Massachusetts, 205; + liberality, 243; + goes to Connecticut, 247; + effort for confederation, 297. + +Hore, voyage, 7. + +Houses, Virginia, 114. + +Hudson, Henry, voyage, 291. + +Hutchinson, Anne, doctrine, 219; + following and controversy, 220-225; + punishment of followers, 225, 226; + banished, 226-228; + in Rhode Island, 228; + under surveillance, 231; + removes, 231; + slain, 231. + +Indians, and Raleigh's colony, 27, 28; + Virginia confederacies, 44, 45; + houses, 45; + religion, 45; + adoption of victims, 46-48; + maidens' dance, 48; + and Virginia, 49, 51, 65, 66, 68, 71; + massacres in Virginia, 85, 107; + peace, 108; + and Maryland, 127, 136, 139; + pestilence in New England, 152; + and Plymouth, 163-165, 177; + and Massachusetts, 200; + Roger Williams's influence, 213, 217, 253; + Narragansett-Mohegan war, 233, 301; + Pequot War, 251-257; + and French, 288; + and New England Confederation, 300-302; + New England missions, 302-304; + number of praying, 304; + Dutch war, 296, 311. + +Ingle, Richard, in Maryland, 141. + +Iroquois, and English, 256; + origin of hostility to French, 288. + +James I., and London Company, 82, 83, 86-88, 90; + and Separatists, 155; + and Pilgrims, 159. + +Jamestown, founded, 50; + burned, 53; + in 1634, 101; + improved houses, 102. + +Kent Island, occupied, 95; + Virginia's claim, 134; + Baltimore's authority denied, 135; + seizure ordered, 136; + conflict, 136; + royal order, 137; + Evelin's treachery, 137; + reduced by Calvert, 138; + decreed to Baltimore, 138; + Claiborne's return, 142. + +Kieft, William, governor of New Netherland, 296; + and New England, 310-312. + +Kittery, settlement, 278; + submits to Massachusetts, 280. + +Land, allotment in Virginia, 79; + manors in Maryland, 130; + division in Plymouth, 167; + in Massachusetts, 189; + Williams's objection to titles, 213, 214. + +La Roche, Marquis de, colony, 286. + +La Tour, Charles de, in Acadia, quarrel with Aulnay, 290, 306-309; + Massachusetts aids, 291, 306-309. + +Legislation, of Virginia's first assembly, 80; + on tobacco, 103; + initiative in Maryland, 131, 133; + Maryland Toleration Act, 144; + New England codes, 180, 203, 326; + initiative in Massachusetts, 203; + New England sumptuary, 326. + +Lery, Baron de, attempted settlement, 284. + +Literature in New England, 327. + +London Company, charter, 36-38; + patron, 37; + government, 37-39; + new charter, 59-61; + third charter, 76; + self-government, 76; + policy, 76; + control, 81; + and the king, 82; + Sandys's enterprise, 82; + overthrow, 86-88; + service, 88; + loyalty of colony, 89; + attempts to restore, 91, 95, 104-106; + patents to Pilgrims, 159. + _See also_ Virginia. + +Long Island, Plowden's grant, 294; + Alexander's grant, 294; + English settlements, 296. + +Lyford, John, in Plymouth and Massachusetts, 170, 171. + +Lynn, settled, 198. + +Mace, Samuel, voyage, 33. + +Maine, Popham's colony, 40, 41; + grants, 207, 266, 268, 274-277; + Massachusetts annexes, 209, 279-281; + settlements, 267, 273; + origin of name, 272; + Gorges's charter and regulations, 275; + Massachusetts buys a patent, 276; + Plough patent resisted and arbitrated, 277, 278; + union of Gorges's settlements, 278; + results of annexation, 281; + bibliography, 336. + +Manhattan purchased, 293. + +Manors in Maryland, 129, 130. + +Manufactures, New England, 322. + +Maps, Virginia (1608), 57; + New England (1614), 150. + +Maryland, Virginia's protest, 96, 122; + Puritan settlers, 109, 144; + charter, 121, 122; + boundaries, 121; + named, 122; + power of proprietary, 123-126; + legislative power, 125; + religious freedom, 125, 139, 140, 143, 144; + first settlers, 126; + leaving England, 126; + and Indians, 127, 136, 139; + settlement, 127; + conditions favoring growth, 128; + servants, 128; + rural society, 129; + government, 129; + manors, 130; + democracy, 130; + origin of laws, 131, 133; + composition of assembly, 133; + Kent Island affair, 134-139; + Catholic propaganda, 139; + and Great Rebellion, 140; + and Ingle, 141; + Protestant revolt, 141, 142; + Calvert regains control, 142; + Stone governor, 143; + and Parliament, 143, 145-147; + oath of fidelity, 145; + parliamentary control, 147; + population (1652), 147; + social conditions, 147; + bibliography, 332-334. + +Mason, John, grants, 185, 207, 266-268; + opposition to Massachusetts, 204-208; + death, 208; + Massachusetts annexes grant, 209, 271, 272; + settlements in territory, 268-270. + +Mason, John, in Pequot War, 254-256. + +Massachusetts, trade with Virginia, 104; + minor settlements, 166, 168, 170, 175; + Dorchester adventurers, 170, 183; + Merry Mount, 174, 186, 192, 197; + religion not primary interest, 184; + patent, 184, 185; + boundaries, 184, 270; + conflicting grants, 185; + Salem reinforced, 186; + government for colonists, 189; + land allotment, 189; + and Oldham's claim, 187, 190; + charter, government, 188, 189; + Congregationalism established, 190, 192, 196, 201, 202, 210; + religious persecution, 191, 201, 211, 237, 319; + government transferred to America, 193; + great emigration, cause, 193-195; + sickness, 195, 196, 198, 199; + towns (1630), 198; + first general court, 199; + governors, 199; + and Indians, 200; + rise of theocracy, 200-202; + quality of clergy, 200, 205; + assistants usurp power, 201; + restricted suffrage, 202, 210, 211; + criminal law, 202; + representation established, 202, 203; + popular elections, 203; + origin of laws, 203; + code, 203; + opposition in England, 204-209; + temporarily sustained, 204; + and Laud, 205; + increased immigration, 205; + population (1634), 205; (1643), 209; + charter demanded, 205, 208; + prepares for resistance, 206; + and English flag, 206; + petition, 206; + judgment against, frustrated, 208; + annexes New Hampshire and Maine, 209, 271, 272, 279-281; + opposition to religious despotism, 211, 212; + Williams incident, 212-218; + religious regulations, 218; + Antinomian controversy, 219-228; + its effect, 228; + and Rhode Island, 230, 231, 235-238; + and Gorton, 232-235; + parliamentary grant, 235; + and settlement of Connecticut, 240-242; + emigration to Connecticut, 242-247; + opposition to restricted suffrage, 243, 271, 319; + and Pequot War, 251-253, 256; + and Davenport's colony, 261; + buys a Maine patent, 276; + arbitrates on Plough patent, 277; + influence of annexations, 281; + and La Tour, 291, 306-309; + boundary disputes, 298, 304; + and trade with Canada, 309; + and Parliament, 318; + Cambridge platform, 320; + "glacial period," 321; + mint, 325; + bibliography, 334. + _See also_ New England. + +Maverick, Samuel, settlement, 175; + grant, 274; + fined, 319. + +Mayhew, Thomas, Indian mission, 302-304. + +Merry Mount, settlement, 174; + suppressed, 174, 186; + Morton's return, 192. + +Miantonomoh, and Gorton, 233; + captured and slain, 233. + +Minuit, Peter, governor of New Netherland, 293; + Swedish colony, 296. + +Mohegans, Narragansett war, 233, 300-302. + +Money in New England, 325. + +Monts, Sieur de, grant, 286; + attempted settlement, 287. + +Morton, Thomas, at Merry Mount, 174; + sent to England, 175, 197; + return, 192; + attorney against Massachusetts, 208. + +Mount Desert Island, French settlement reduced, 72, 149, 289. + +Mystic, settled, 198. + +Nantasket, settled, 170. + +Narragansetts, and Plymouth, 165; + Mohegan war, 233, 300; + and Pequot War, 251, 253; + and New England Confederation, 300-302. + +Netherlands, Separatists in, 154-158; + voyages to America, 291. + +New England, coast explorations, 34, 35, 40, 150; + map (1614), 150; + named, 150; + attempted settlement, 150; + Indian pestilence, 152; + settlements (1628), 175; + population (1643), 209; (1652), 322; + preparation against Dutch, 316; + communication, 322; + trade, 322; + ship-building, 322; + manufactures, 322; + town government, 322, 323; + education, 323-325; + money, 325; + marriage, 326; + sumptuary laws, 326; + criminal laws, 326; + social character, 326; + literature, 327; + bibliography on Dutch relations, 337; + bibliography on French relations, 337. + _See also_ next title, Council for New England, Plymouth Company, and + colonies by name. + +New England Confederation, causes and attempts, 282, 297, 298; + organized, members, 298; + object, management, powers, support, 299; + defects, 300; + population, 300; + and Indian war, 300-302; + and Massachusetts, 301, 305, 306, 308, 310, 316, 317; + appointment of commander, 301; + and Indian missions, 302-304; + boundary decision, 304; + Connecticut River tolls, 304-306; + and French, 308, 310; + and Dutch, 311-313; + Dutch treaty, 313, 314; + war threats, 315-317; + permanency thwarted, 317. + +New Hampshire, Massachusetts annexes, 209, 271, 272; + grants, 266, 267; + settlements, 267, 269, 270; + named, 268; + feebleness, 268; + dissensions, 269; + civil contracts, 270; + Massachusetts' claim, 270; + suffrage after annexation, 271; + and the confederation, 298; + bibliography, 336. + _See also_ New England. + +New Haven, settlers' plan, 260; + settled, 261; + purchase from Indians, 262; + government, 262-264; + suffrage, 262-264; + union, 264; + growth, 265; + on Delaware, 296, 311, 315; + Kieft's bluster, 312; + trade ventures, 315; + migration considered, 315; + bibliography, 335. + _See also_ New England. + +New London, settled, 260; + jurisdiction, 304. + +New Netherland, Argall in, 72; + and Plymouth, 175, 240; + on Connecticut, 239-242, 249; + trade charter, 292; + boundaries, 292, 313; + English protest, 292; + settlement, 293; + patroonships, 293; + English encroachments, 294-296, 310-312, 315; + Indian war, 296, 311; + New England boundary, 313, 314; + New England war threats, 315-317; + bibliography, 336, 337. + +New Sweden, settlement, 296; + bibliography, 337. + +Newfoundland, English voyages, 7; + fisheries, 7; + Gilbert at, 19, 20; + Calvert's settlement, 118. + +Newport, Christopher, conducts Virginia colony, 42; + in council, 49; + seeks gold mine, 50; + visits, 52, 53, 55-57, 62. + +Newport, settled, 229. + +Newtown, restless, 242; + migration to Connecticut, 244, 246; + settles Hartford, 247. + +Northwest passage, search, 8, 14, 15; + Gilbert's pamphlet, 14. + +Norton, John, bigotry, 321. + +Oldham, John, in Plymouth, 170; + at Nantasket and Cape Ann, 170, 171; + and Massachusetts Company, 187, 190; + killed, 252. + +Opechancanough, massacres, 85, 107; + captured and slain, 108. + +Parliament, trade charter (1566), 14; + sanctions Raleigh's charter, 22; + and Virginia, 111-113; + and Maryland, 143, 145-147; + and Massachusetts, 235, 318; + charter to Rhode Island, 235. + +Patents. _See_ Charters, Grants. + +Patroonships in New Netherland, 293. + +Pemaquid, settled, 273. + +Pequot War, 251-257; + killing of Stone, 251, 252; + Massachusetts' expedition, 252; + Narragansett alliance, 253; + settlements attacked, 254; + capture of Indian fort, 254-256; + Pequots exterminated, 256; + results, 257. + +Percy, George, in Virginia, 43, 64, 65. + +Pilgrims, English congregation, 155; + leaders, 155; + flight to Holland, 156; + at Leyden, 157, 158; + decide to settle in Virginia, 158; + James I.'s attitude, 159; + patents, 159; + financial arrangement, 159; + voyage, 160; + land-fall, 160; + compact, 161; + settlement, 161. + _See also_ Plymouth. + +Piscataqua. _See_ Portsmouth. + +Plymouth, settlement, 161; + named, 162; + scurvy, 163; + and Indians, 163-165, 177; + first summer, 164; + patents, 164, 172, 178; + first cargo, 165; + and Weston's settlers, 166; + trouble with partners, 167, 169; + land division, 167; + character of immigrants, 169, 170; + conspiracy, 170; + Cape Ann trouble, 170; + buys out partners, 171; + trading-posts, 172; + reunion, 172; + boundaries, 173; + and Merry Mount, 174; + and Dutch, 175, 240; + French attacks, 176, 177; + on Connecticut, 177, 239-242, 245; + growth, 178; + government, 179; + suffrage, 180; + code, 180; + town government, 180; + ministers, 181; + education, 181; + thrift, 181; + significance, 182; + and Roger Williams, 217, 218; + boundary dispute, 298; + bibliography, 334. + _See also_ New England, Pilgrims. + +Plymouth Company, charter, 36-38; + patrons, 37; + government, 37-39; + attempted settlements, 39-41, 150; + inactive, 149; + Gorges's activity, 151; + reorganized, 152. + _See also_ Council for New England. + +Plough patent, 277; + resisted and arbitrated, 277, 278. + +Pocahontas, rescues Smith, 46-48; + dance, 48; + seized, 71; + married, 71; + in England, 74; + death, 77. + +Popham, George, colony, 40; + death, 41; + fate of colony, 41. + +Popham, Sir John, and Zuniga, 36; + patron of Plymouth Company, 37; + colony, 40; + death, 41. + +Population, Virginia (1629), 93; (1635), 100; (1652), 114; + Maryland (1652), 147; + Massachusetts (1634), 205; (1643), 209; + New England (1643), 209, 300; (1652), 322; + Connecticut (1653), 260. + +Port Royal, Argall reduces, 72, 149, 289; + settlement, 287; + rebuilt, 289. + +Portsmouth (Piscataqua), N.H., settled, 175, 267; + feeble existence, 268; + Anglicanism, 268; + civil contract, 270; + annexed by Massachusetts, 271. + +Portsmouth, R.I., settled, 229. + +Potato, introduction, 26. + +Pott, John, in Virginia, 93, 94; + and Baltimore, 119. + +Poutrincourt at Port Royal, 287. + +Powhatan, chief of confederacy, 44, 45; + crowned, 56; + and Virginia, 69-71; + death, 85. + +Prado, de, voyage, 7. + +Presbyterianism, Massachusetts' attitude, 319-321. + +Pring, Martin, voyage, 35, 39. + +Providence, Md., founded, 109, 144. + +Providence, R.I., settled, 218; + growth, 230; + and Gorton, 232; + union with Rhode Island, 235, 237. + +Puritans, in Virginia, 106; + in Maryland, 109, 144, 145; + rise, 153; + Separatists, 154-156. + _See also_ New England colonies by name. + +Quebec, settled, 288; + captured, 290. + +_Quo warranto_ against Virginia Company, 88. + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Gilbert's plan, 15; + voyage with Gilbert, 16; + appearance, 21; + accomplishments, 21; + royal favor, 21; + charter, 22; + exploring expedition, 22, 23; + first colony, 23-25; + second, 26, 27; + introduces potato and tobacco, 26; + third colony, 27; + colony and Indians, 27, 28, 32; + and Armada, 29; + relief expeditions, 30; + assigns trade right, 31; + fate of colony, 31, 32; + place in history, 32; + fall, 33; + in Guinea, 33; + executed, 33; + monopoly abrogated, 35; + search for colony, 56. + +Ratcliffe, John, in Virginia, 43, 49, 57, 63; + president, 51; + and Smith, 52, 63; + deposed, 54; + slain, 65. + +Religion, influence on Spain, 4; + on England, 5; + freedom in Maryland, 125, 139, 140, 143, 144; + persecution in Massachusetts, 191, 201, 211, 237, 319; + theocracy in New England, 200-202, 258, 262-264; + freedom in Rhode Island, 238; + Indian missions, 302-304; + bibliography on influence, 338. + _See also_ sects by name. + +Representation, Virginia, 79, 80, 92-94; + and taxation in Virginia, 90, 96, 113; + James I.'s policy, 91; + Maryland, 125, 133; + Plymouth, 179; + Massachusetts, 202, 203; + Connecticut, 250, 258; + New Haven, 265; + town unit, 322. + _See also_ Suffrage. + +Rhode Island, Providence settled, 218; + island purchased and settled, 229; + body politic, 229; + union of settlements, 230, 237, 238; + attitude of Massachusetts, 230, 231, 235-238; + parliamentary charter, 235; + boundaries, 235; + Gorton's settlement, 232-235; + Coddington's commission, 237, 238; + Baptists in, 237; + religious freedom, 238; + and New England Confederation, 298; + named, 292; + bibliography, 335. + _See also_ New England. + +Richelieu and Canada, 288. + +Roberval, colony, 285. + +Robinson, John, character, 155; + in Leyden, 157; + remains there, 160; + death, 172. + +Rolfe, John, marries Pocahontas, 72; + plants tobacco, 75; + secretary of state, 77. + +Roxbury, settled, 198; + emigration to Springfield, 247. + +Russia, English voyages, 8. + +Sable Island, attempted settlements, 284, 286. + +Saco, settlement, 273; + and Plough patent, 277; + submits to Massachusetts, 280. + +St. Croix, French settlement reduced, 72, 149, 289. + +St. Mary's, founded, 127. + +Salem (Naumkeag), settled, 175, 183; + Endicott at, 186; + named, 186; + sickness, 186, 195; + and Roger Williams, 213-217. + +Saltonstall, Sir Richard, agrees to emigrate, 193; + attempted settlement, 248. + +Sandys, Sir Edwin, in London Company, policy, 76, 78; + treasurer, 81; + enterprise, 82; + royal opposition, 82; + and Charles I., 91. + +Say and Sele, Lord, grant, 248; + buys Dover, 268, 271. + +Saybrook, founded, 249, 259; + sold to Connecticut, 260. + +Scarboro, grant of site, 274; + submits to Massachusetts, 281. + +Scrivener, Matthew, in Virginia, 54, 57; + death, 57. + +Separatism, rise, 154; + refuge in Holland, 154-156. + _See also_ Congregationalism, Pilgrims. + +Servants, in Virginia, 100, 115; + in Maryland, 128. + +Sheriff, in Maryland, 129. + +Ship-building, New England, 322. + +Slave-trade, English, 8-10. + +Slavery, introduction, 81; + social influence, 116, 147. + +Smith, John, Virginia settler, 43; + career, 43; + rescued by Pocahontas, 46-48; + arrested, 49; + in council, 49; + cape merchant, 51; + supplies from Indians, 52; + captured, 52; + condemned by Ratcliffe, 52; + restored, 53; + president, 54; + answer to company's complaints, 57; + maps, 57, 150; + sole ruler, 57, 63; + avoids famine, 58; + deposed, 64: + leaves, 64; + on coast of New England, 150; + attempted settlement, 150; + captured by French, 151; + service to New England, 152. + +Smith, Sir Thomas, buys trade right, 31; + in London Company, 76, 78, 81. + +Social conditions, slavery, 81, 116, 147; + servants, 100, 115, 128; + Virginia (1634), 101-103; (1648), 110; + houses, 114; + hospitality, 115; + absence of towns, 115, 129; + Virginia education, 116, 117; + Maryland (1652), 147; + New England criminal codes, 180, 203, 326; + influence of Calvinism, 321; + New England towns, 322, 323; + education, 323-325; + marriage, 326; + sumptuary laws, 326; + general characteristics, 326; + literature, 327; + bibliography, 338. + +Somers, Sir George, at Bermudas, 62; + death, 68. + +Sources, on period 1574-1652, 329-331; + on Virginia, 331, 332; + on Maryland, 333; + on Plymouth and Massachusetts, 334; + on Rhode Island, 335; + on Connecticut and New Haven, 335; + on New Hampshire and Maine, 336; + on New Netherland, 336, 337; + on French colonies, 337. + +Southampton, earl of, in London Company, 34, 35, 77, 82. + +Southampton, joins Connecticut, 259; + settled, 296. + +Southold, union with New Haven, 265; + settled, 296. + +Spain, decay, 3; + influence of colonial empire, 4; + religious influences, 4; + English rivalry, 5; + and Drake's attacks, 13; + attacks Gilbert's expedition, 16; + English war, 28-30, 35; + Armada, 30; + power destroyed, 30; + and English colonies, 36, 60, 74, 283, 284. + _See also_ colonies. + +Springfield, settled, 247; + and river-tolls, 305. + +Standish, Miles, Separatist, in Leyden, 158; + exploration, 161; + suppresses Merry Mount, 175. + +Stone, William, governor of Maryland, 143, 144; + removed and restored, 147. + +Stuyvesant, Peter, and New England Confederation, 312; + treaty, 313, 314. + +Suffrage, Virginia, 116; + Plymouth, 180; + Massachusetts, 202, 210, 211, 243, 319; + Connecticut, 258; + New Haven, 262-264; + New Hampshire, 271. + +Taxation and representation in Virginia, 90, 96, 113. + +Theocracy in New England, 200-202, 258, 262-264. + +Thompson, David, settlements, 175, 267. + +Tobacco, Raleigh introduces, 26; + cultivation begun, 75; + growth of trade, 83, 92; + duty, 83, 93; + monopoly, 86, 93; + fall in price, 103; + legislation, 103; + in Maryland, 128. + +Towns, absence in Virginia, 115; + and in Maryland, 129; + government in Plymouth, 180; + unit in New England, 322; + meetings, 323; + selectmen, 323; + business 323. + +Trade, English, development (1550), 8; + slave-trade, 8-10; + direction under Mary, 9; + Hawkins's voyages, 9; + tobacco, 83, 86, 92, 103; + Virginia, 100, 103; + fur, 168, 286, 287, 291, 293; + New England, 322. + +Travel, New England conditions (1652), 322. + +Treaties, St. Germain (1632), 290; + Hartford (1650), 314. + +Twiller, Wouter van, and claim to Connecticut, 242; + governor of New Netherland, 293; + and Eelkens, 294; + recalled, 296. + +Uncas, captures and slays Miantonomoh, 233; + policy, 240, 302. + +Underhill, John, at Dover, 269; + and Dutch, 269. + +Union, Rhode Island, 230, 237; + Connecticut, 250; + New Haven, 264; + New Hampshire, 270, 272; + Maine, 278. + _See also_ New England Confederation. + +Vane, Sir Harry, governor of Massachusetts, 200; + and Antinomian controversy, 220-223; + defeated, 224; + returns to England, 225. + +Verrazzano, John, voyage, 284. + +Virginia, Raleigh's charter, 22; + exploring expedition, 22, 23; + named, 23; + Raleigh's attempted settlement, 23-28, 31, 32; + charter, 36-38; + and Spain, 36, 60, 74, 283; + boundaries, 37; + regulations for settlement, 42; + settlers, 42; + topography, 43; + Indians, 44-49; + voyage, 49; + quarrel, 49; + first officers, 49; + relation with Indians, 49, 51, 68, 71; + Jamestown founded, 50; + suffering and dissensions, 50-54, 58, 63-66, 69, 74, 84; + search for gold, 51, 53, 56, 69; + Smith's enterprise, 51, 52, 54; + First Supply, 52; + cargoes, 53, 54, 57; + Second Supply, 55; + first marriage and birth, 55; + company's instructions (1608), 55; + Powhatan crowned, 56; + search for Raleigh's colony, 56; + answer to company, 57; + map, 57; + Argall's relief, 59, 63; + new charter, 59-61; + gentlemen settlers, causes of calamities, 59; + communism, 59; + absolute governor, 61; + Third Supply, 61-63; + Starving Time, 66; + abandonment decided upon, 67; + Delaware's timely arrival, 67, 68; + his administration, 68-70; + deputy governors, 70; + Dale's rule, 70-74; + expeditions against Acadia, 72; + communism abolished, 73; + in 1616, 74; + tobacco planting begins, 75; + third charter, 76; + company's policy, 76; + Argall's tyranny, 77, 78; + land division, 77, 79; + charter of privileges, 78; + Yardley governor, 78, 79; + in 1619, 78; + private associations, 79; + representation, 79, 92-94, 123; + church of England, 80, 106; + first assembly, 80; + first negro slaves, 81; + cargo of maidens, 81; + tobacco trade and regulation, 83, 86, 92, 103; + prosperity, 84, 102; + first massacre, 85; + commission to investigate, 87; + charter voided, 88; + loyalty to company, 89; + taxation and representation, 90, 96, 113; + royal control, 90, 91, 95, 96; + policy of James I., 91; + population (1629), 93; (1635), 100; (1652), 114; + Harvey's rule, 93, 96; + deposed and reinstated, 97-99, 136; + northern expansion, 94; + and Maryland charter, 96, 120-123; + Wyatt governor, 99, 104; + servants, 100, 115; + trade (1635), 100; + settlements (1634), 101, 102; (1652), 113, 114; + continued mortality, 102, 104; + corn trade, 103; + parliamentary charter, 105; + Berkeley governor, 105; + petition against charter, 105; + loyalty to king, 105, 111; + Puritans, 106, 108, 109; + second massacre, 107; + peace, 108; + cavalier immigration, 109, 111; + improved ministry, 110; + in 1648, 110; + and parliamentary commission, 111-113; + control by burgesses, 113; + houses, 114; + hospitality, 115; + absence of towns, 115; + democracy, 116; + influence of slavery, 116; + education, 116, 117; + and Baltimore, 119; + origin of laws, 123; + claim to Kent Island, 134-138; + and Dutch on Delaware, 294; + bibliography, 331. + _See also_ London Company. + +Voyages, Cabot (1497, 1498), 6; + Prado (1527), 7; + Hore (1535), 7; + Willoughby (1553), 8; + English, to Russia, 8; + Drake (1577-1580), 12; + Cavendish (1586), 13; + Frobisher (1376-1578), 14; + Davis (1585-1587), 15; + Barlow and Amidas (1584), 22, 23; + Denys (1506), 284; + Aubert (1508), 284; + Verrazzano (1524), 284; + Cartier (1534-1536), 284; + Alefonse (1542), 285; + Hudson (1609), 291; + bibliography, 329, 330. + +Walker, John, voyage, 17. + +Wars, Spanish-English (1588), 28-30, 35; + Pequot (1637), 251-257; + English-French (1627), 289, 290; + English-Dutch (1652), 315. + +Warwick, earl of, in London Company, 76, 81; + grant, 185, 239. + +Warwick settled, 230, 233-235. + +Watertown, settled, 198; + restless, 242; + migration to Connecticut, 245, 246; + settles Wethersfield, 246. + +Welles, founded, 272; + submits to Massachusetts, 280. + +West, Francis, in Virginia, 55, 92; + and fishermen, 168. + +West Indies, Spain and England in, 284. +Wethersfield, settled, 247; + Indian attack, 254. + +Weymouth, George, voyage, 35. + +Weymouth (Wessagusset), settlement, 166, 168. + +Wheelwright, John, and Antinomianism, 220-224; + banished, 226; + at Dover, 269; + settles Exeter, 269; + founds Welles, 272; + return to Massachusetts, 272. + +White, Andrew, Jesuit, in Maryland, 126; + sent to England, 141. + +White, John, water-colors, 26; + governor of Raleigh's colony, 27, 28; + attempted relief, 31. + +White, Rev. John, and Salem settlement, 183; + pamphlet, 194. + +Williams, Roger, in Massachusetts, 212; + harsh creed, 213; + objections, 213; + in Plymouth, 213, 217, 218; + and Indians, 213, 217, 251, 253; + on land titles, 214; + trial, 214, 215; + objection to oaths, 215; + and Salem, 216; + banished, 216, 217; + flight, 217; + settles Providence, 218; + secures patent, 235; + triumphal return, 236; + Baptist, 237; + thwarts Coddington, 238. + +Willoughby, Sir Hugh, voyage, 8. + +Wilson, John, Congregationalist, 196; + sermons, 218; + and Antinomianism, 220, 223. + +Windsor, Plymouth fort, 242; + Dorchester settlers, 245-247. + +Wingfield, E.M., in Virginia, 43, 49, 51-53, 54. + +Winslow, Edward, Separatist, in Leyden, 158; + agent in England, 206, 279. + +Winthrop, John, agrees to emigrate, 193; + governor, 193, 224; + Congregationalist, 196; + and Antinomian controversy, 220-228; + character, death, 243, 321; + and La Tour, 307. + +Winthrop, John (2), theoretic governor, 249; + settles New London, 260. + +Wyatt, Sir Francis, governor of Virginia, 85, 90, 92, 99; + commissioner, 95. + +Yardley, Sir George, governor of Virginia, 70, 75, 78, 92; + death, 92. + +York (Agamenticus, Gorgeana), government, 275, 276; + submits to Massachusetts, 280. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of England in America, 1580-1652 +by Lyon Gardiner Tyler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLAND IN AMERICA, 1580-1652 *** + +***** This file should be named 16294.txt or 16294.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/9/16294/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Gary Houston and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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