62

EXPLOIT OF STANDISH.

This event was followed by others of the same character. A sachem who had threatened hostilities was compelled to sue for peace, and nine chiefs subscribed an instrument of submission to king James. Canonicus, the sachem of the Narragansetts, sent a bundle ofarrows wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin to the governor, in token of defiance; but Bradford coolly stuffed the skin with powder and shot, and returned it. The Indian's courage failed at the sight of this unequivocal symbol; and he followed the example of his countrymen by subscribing a treaty of peace.

Another colony was the means of involving the Plymouth settlers in an Indian war. Weston, one of the London adventurers, had been induced, by the hope of a lucrative trade, to obtain a patent for land near Weymouth, in Massachusetts Bay, and sent over a company of sixty men, who settled on the soil, intruded themselves on the hospitality of the Plymouth colony, were idle and dissolute, and finally exasperated the Indians so much by their repeated aggres

sions, that a plot was formed for the entire extermi

1623. nation of the English. This plot was revealed by Massasoit. The governor, on receiving this intelligence, ordered Standish to take a party with him to the new settlement, and, if he should discover signs of a plot, to fall on the conspirators. Standish took but eight men, and proceeded at once to the scene of action, was insulted and threatened by the natives. Watching a favourable opportunity, he attacked them, killed several, and put the rest to flight. The Indian women were treated kindly and sent This decisive action broke up the conspiracy, and dispersed the tribes who had formed it. The Weymouth colony was soon after abandoned, and the settlers returned to England.

away.

The London merchants, who had lent money to the Pilgrims, on their departure from England, had been admitted to a sort of partnership in the colony, which was afterwards productive of much inconvenience. These mer

chants used their power for the purpose of making severe restrictions and exactions. They refused a passage to Mr. Robinson, who wished to join his friends in Plymouthendeavoured to force upon the colony a clergyman, whose religious opinions were at variance with their

own

and even attempted to injure their commerce by rivalryextorting from them exorbitant profits on supplies, and

TREACHERY OF PIERCE.

63

excessive usury on money. The emigrants bore all this patiently; and at last succeeded in buying out the entire rights of the London adventurers, and relieving themselves from debt, and its unpleasant consequences.

The first patent of Plymouth had been taken out at the instance of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, in the name of John Pierce, as trustee for the adventurers. When the enterprise assumed a promising aspect, this man secretly procured another patent of larger extent, for his own benefit, intending to hold the adventurers as his tenants.

He accordingly sent out ships for New England; but they were driven back repeatedly by storms; and the losses he underwent compelled him to sell his patent, and his property, to the company.

A patent was afterwards granted for the lands about the Kennebec river, where a trading establishment had been formed; but no charter could ever be obtained from the king, who still retained his hostility to the Puritans.

The population of the old colony, at Plymouth, increased slowly. Ten years after the first settlement there were only three hundred inhabitants. But they had spread over a wide territory, and become firmly rooted in the soil.

The government of the old colony was strictly republican. The governor was elected by the people, and restricted by a council of five, and afterwards of seven, assistants. The legislature was at first composed of the whole body of the people. But, as the population increased, they adopted the representative system.

CHAPTER XI.

PROGRESS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.

THE old Plymouth company for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing New England, in America,' whose extensive and very exclusive charter has already been mentioned, had made no other use of its inordinate privileges than an attempt to exclude from the trade and fisheries all who would not pay the company a heavy tax. No monopoly could be more odious to the people of England than this.

64

SETTLEMENT OF MAINE.

Their privileges were violently assailed in the house of commons, and the patentees were finally compelled to relinquish their claims. They continued, however, to issue patents for portions of their immense territory, to different companies and individuals.

One of these having been granted to Robert Gorges, the son of Ferdinand, for a tract extending ten miles on Massachusetts Bay, and thirty miles into the interior, he was appointed by the company, lieutenant-general of New England, with extensive powers. But this grant was productive of no permanent settlement, and the powers of Gorges were never exercised.

In 1622, Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and John Mason, took a patent for a territory called Laconia, extending from the Atlantic to the St. Lawrence, and from the Merrimac to the Kennebec. Under this patent, Portsmouth and Dover were settled, in 1623. A fresh patent for the country between the Merrimac and Piscataqua, was obtained by Mason, in 1629. This was the patent for New Hampshire. Its early progress was so slow, that, in thirty years after its settlement, Portsmouth contained no more than sixty families.

In 1628, a number of settlements were commenced on the coast of Maine, under a succession of patents granted by the Plymouth council. But, as most of these were merely temporary, having for their object the pursuits of hunting and fishing, they were soon abandoned.

A district of forty miles square, which was called Lygonia, and situated between Harpswell and the Kennebunk river, was settled in 1630, and given up the next year, the settlers retiring to Massachusetts.

Sir Ferdinand Gorges obtained, in 1635, a patent for the district lying between the Kennebec and the Piscataqua, and sent his nephew, William Gorges, to govern the territory, who found some settlers on the Saco and Kennebec; but he remained in the country only two years, and it was then left without a government. Sir Ferdinand still continued his schemes for colonisation, and was subsequently constituted lord proprietary of the country, by a royal charter.

New England would have increased but slowly in wealth and population, had not the same causes which drove the Brownists from England, still continued to operate. The Puritans were constantly the objects of persecution in England, and numbers of them were desirous to seek an asylum

SETTLEMENT OF SALEM AND CHARLESTOWN.

65

in the new world. Several emigrations were consequently made to Massachusetts.

Mr. White, a Puritan minister of Dorchester, in England, had induced some merchants and gentlemen to join him, (1624,) in sending out a small colony, who began a plantation at Cape Ann, recognising, however, the supremacy of the Plymouth settlers.

In 1627, Mr. White and his company concluded a treaty, with the council of Plymouth, for the purchase of that part of New England lying three miles south of Charles river, and three miles north of Merrimac river, and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. A small number of emigrants, under the direction of John Endicott, were soon afterwards sent out, who laid the foundation of Salem, the first nent town in the Massachusetts colony, in 1628.

perma

The adventurers did not deem themselves able to effect all their objects without the aid of more opulent partners. Some London merchants joined them, and a charter was obtained from the crown confirming the grant from the council of Plymouth, and conferring powers of government. The supreme authority was vested in persons residing in London, a most unwise provision, as the history of the Virginia company sufficiently proved. The patentees were styled 'The Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England.'

The executive power was vested in a governor, deputy governor, and eighteen assistants, to be nominated by the crown, and afterwards elected by the company. The governor and assistants were to meet monthly for business. The legislative power was vested in the body of the proprietors, who were to assemble four times a year, under the denomination of the General Court, for electing officers, and making laws for the common weal. The colonists were exempted from taxes and duties, and declared entitled to all the rights and privileges of Englishmen, as had already been done in the charter of Virginia.

Under this charter three vessels sailed in May, 1628, with about two hundred persons, who reached Salem in June, where they found a colony of one hundred planters under the government of John Endicott.

Not satisfied with the situation at Salem, one hundred of the company, under the direction of Thomas Graves, removed to Mishawum, where they laid the foundation of a town, to which they gave the name of Charlestown. Both settlements

66

SETTLEMENT OF BOSTON.

were united under the same government; and one of their first acts was to form a church and ordain their minister and ruling elder, in which solemnity they were joined by a representation from the Plymouth colony.

The inconveniences, which would have resulted from that provision of the charter which required the government of the colony of Massachusetts to be resident in London, had already been foreseen, and in consequence of representations to that effect, the charter was transferred to those of the freemen who should themselves reside in the colony. This gave a new impulse to emigration, and many persons of various ranks prepared for their departure to the New World.

The next year (1630) brought a fleet with eight hundred and forty emigrants, among whom were governor Winthrop, deputy governor Dudley, and many other persons of wealth and respectability. In September, of the same year, a settlement was formed at a place on the south side of Charles river, called by the Indians Shawmut, and by the English, Trimountain, to which the name of Boston was now given.

The succeeding autumn and winter were marked by severe distress. Sickness visited the colony, and before December, two hundred of their number had died. Among these was the lady Arabella Johnson, the daughter of a noble house in England, who had left the quiet and luxury of her home, but to leave a memorial of her virtues and misfortunes in the new country. The colonists were by no means disheartened by their sufferings, but bore all with fortitude, in the hope of transmitting free institutions to their posterity.

6

In May, 1631, at the first court of election in Massachusetts, that the body of the commons might be preserved of good and honest men,' it was ordered that, from that time, no persons be admitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such as were members of some of the churches within its limits. This provision has been much censured by historians and statesmen, and the right of the government to make it has been questioned. It was subsequently productive of much dissension. It was, however, by no means consistent with the spirit of the age, and was unquestionably adopted from the most upright and conscientious motives.

The settlements gradually extended in the neighbourhood of Boston and Charlestown to such remote points, that the purely democratic form of government, which admitted every freeman to a share in the deliberations respecting the public