1627. and a communication, opened by a letter from the Dutch Governor of Fort Amsterdam, now New York, March 9. led to mutual expressions of good-will, and offers of business intercourse and neighborly good offices. After two letters had passed each way, Isaac De Rasières, the Dutch "upper commis or chief merchant, and second to the Governor," made a visit to Plymouth of "some few days." "1 1 He came up Buzzard's Bay, "accompanied with a noise of trumpeters, and some other attendants," and landed at Manomet, whence (October 4) he sent a messenger to the English. "So they sent a boat to Manonscussett [in Sandwich] and brought him to the plantation, with the chief of his company.” He sold his guests some sugar, linen, and stuffs, for tobacco. "But that which turned most to their profit in time was an entrance into the trade of wampumpeag. For they now bought about fifty pounds' worth of it of them; and they [the Dutch] told them how vendable it was at their Fort Orania, and did persuade them they would find it so at Kennebec. And so it came to pass in time, though at first it stuck; and it was two years before they could put off this small quantity, till the inland people knew of it, and afterwards they could scarce ever get enough for them, for many years together." (Bradford, 222–225, 233, 234.) To a letter of De Rasières, written after his return, we are indebted for some interesting facts respecting the colony of Plymouth in the seventh year from its foundation. The letter was obtained by Mr. Brodhead from the archives at the Hague, and published by him in the New York Historical Collections, Second Series, II. 343 et seq. De Rasières writes of Plymouth : — "At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of May there come so many herring from the sea, which want to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellis-work, through which the water has its course, but which they can also close with slides. At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel-pot with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding-door, and with trellis-work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is a square pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide there are ten thousand to twelve thousand fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellises above so that no more water comes in; then the water runs out through the lower trellises, and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world; and if they do not lay these fishes therein, the maize will not grow, such is the nature of the soil. "New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the sea Mr. Allerton, who had been sent to England for the purpose of pursuing the negotiation with the Adventurers, in which Standish had made some progress, as Release well as for other business, brought back a grati- from the fying account of his success. He had "taken up two hundred pounds, which he now got at thirty per cent., and brought some useful goods with him, much to the comfort and content of the plantation." And he had coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of eight hundred [feet] long, leading down the hill, with a [street] crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet, and southwards to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court-yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross-street, stands the Governor's house, before which is a square enclosure, upon which four patereros [steenstucken] are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannons, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain's door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe; beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher, with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain, with his side-arms and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and so they Adventurers. march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day. "Their government is after the English form. The Governor has his council, which is chosen every year by the entire community by election or prolongation of term. In the inheritance they place all the children in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgment for his seniority of birth. “They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They [the English] speak very angrily, when they hear from the savages that we should live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. "Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and, consequently, not so suitable for the plough. They apportion their land according as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousand guilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out; whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to any one; only, if the king should choose to send a Governor-General, they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign chief. "The maize seed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the Governor, at three guilders the bushel, who, in his turn, sends it in adjusted with the Adventurers the preliminaries of an arrangement for discharging the planters from their contract of service and partnership. For the sum of eighteen hundred pounds, payable in nine equal annual instalments, beginning in the following year, the Adventurers were to convey to the planters "every their stocks, shares, lands, merchandise, and chattels." The speculation was a hazardous one for the planters. "They knew not well how to raise the payment, and discharge their other engagements, and supply their yearly wants, seeing they were forced for their necessities to take up moneys or goods at such high interest. Yet they undertook it, and seven or eight of the chief of the place became jointly bound for the payment of this eighteen hundred pounds, in the behalf of the rest, at the several days; in which they ran a great adventure, as their present state stood, having many other heavy burdens already upon them, and all things in an uncertain condition."1 A new organization and distribution were now adopted, to meet the anticipated change of affairs. With a generous wisdom, the occasion was used to compose the of stock and feud between the "generals" and the "particulars." A partnership was formed of all the men on the Distribution land. sloops to the north for the trade in skins among the savages. They reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver's skin. In the first place, a division is made according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the Governor takes care to provide every year. They have better means of living than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons, and cranes, and other The small-legged birds, which are in great 1 Bradford, 211-214. The English Adventurers who executed this covenant were forty-two in number. (See Bradford's Letter-Book, in Mass. Hist. Coll., III. 48.) Six of them, namely, spot, of suitable age and prudence, under an agreement that the trade should "be managed as before to help to pay the debts" in the way of a joint-stock company, and that every freeman should have a single share, and "every father of a family also be allowed to purchase a share for his wife, and a share for every child that he had living with him." A division followed of the stock and land, hitherto the joint property of the Adventurers and of their associates on the soil. One cow and two goats were assigned by lot to every six persons or shares, "and swine, though more in number, yet by the same rule. Then they agreed that every person or share should have twenty acres of land divided unto them, besides the single acres they had already. .. But no meadows were to be laid out at all, nor were not of many years after, because they were but strait of meadow grounds, and if they had been now given out, it would have hindered all addition to them afterwards; but every season all were appointed where they should mow, according to the proportion of cattle they had." The houses became private property by an equitable assignment. The vassalage to the foreign merchants was over. Henceforward there were to be New-England freeholders. 2 The first coveted luxury of their emancipated state was a reunion with their ancient companions. Hitherto the pleasure of others might decide who should join them. That embarrassment was now withdrawn. Their tender mutual recollections had naturally been refreshed by their common mourning for their "loving and faithful pastor." To put the financial affairs in a more manage White, Pocock, Goffe, Sharpe, Revell, and Andrews, were afterwards members of the Massachusetts Company. 1 "Except peace and union were preserved, they should be able to do nothing, but endanger to overthrow all, now that other ties and bonds were 20 VOL. I. taken away; therefore they resolved to July. The trade farmed by eight colonists. 1 able shape, eight of the settlers 1 entered into an engagement with the colony to farm its trade for a term of six years. In consideration of the sole right of trading, of an annual payment by each colonist of three bushels of corn or six pounds of tobacco, and of the transfer to them of three vessels, with "the whole stock of furs, felts, beads, corn, wampumpeag, knives, &c. that was now in the store, or any way due upon account,' the eight agreed to make the annual payments due from the colony in London; to discharge the other debts of the plantation, amounting to about six hundred pounds more; and to bring over, every year, fifty pounds' worth of hose and shoes, and sell them for corn at six shillings a bushel.2 Allerton was despatched again to England to conclude the transaction there, and attend to other business, which he prosperously completed. On his return, the following spring, "he brought a reasonable supply of goods"; and reported that he had paid the first instalment to the Adventurers, delivered the bonds for the residue of the debt, and obtained the due conveyance and release; that he had discharged all other debts, except those due to four friends,3 who agreed to take an interest and become partners in the six years' hire of the trade, and to charge themselves with the transportation of a company from Leyden; and lastly, that he had obtained from the Council for New England a patent for land on the Kennebec.4 The patent was immediately turned to account by the erection of "a house up above in that river, in the most convenient place for trade." 5 1628. 1 They were Bradford, Brewster, Winslow, Standish, Prince, Alden, Howland, and Allerton. Prince had come over in the Fortune; all the others, in the Mayflower. 2 Bradford, 225 – 228. 3 They were James Shirley, John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews, and Timothy Hatherley. Shirley, "the glue of the company" (Cushman's letter in Mass. Hist. Coll., III. 34), wrote, that some of the Adventurers had fallen out with him, because, adds he, "I would not side with them against you, and the going over of the Leyden people." (Bradford, 230.) 4 Ibid., 232. |