CHAPTER IX. June. Ir has been mentioned, that, at the time to which the history of the Massachusetts Colony has been brought down, the older settlement at Plymouth had increased to the number of about three hundred persons, and that, about the time of the discharge from their engagements to the London partners, they had extended their trading operations both to the east and to the west. The place of the crazy Rogers, the minister brought over by Allerton, and soon sent back, was supplied by 1629. Smith, who had come with Higginson's fleet. Some of the Plymouth people found him at Nantasket, weary of being in that uncouth place, and in a poor house that would neither keep him nor his goods dry. So seeing him to be a grave man, and understood he had been a minister, though they had no order for any such thing, yet they presumed and brought him. He was here accordingly kindly entertained and housed, and exercised his gifts among them, and afterwards was chosen into the ministry, and so remained for sundry years. 66 "1 emigration A few weeks before the new minister came, thirty-five members of the Leyden church had joined their friends, accomplishing a long-deferred hope of both par- August. ties. The poor people at Plymouth, just in- Renewed volved in new pecuniary obligations to an from Leyden. pressive amount, were but too happy, not only to defray all the expenses of the new-comers, but to give them dwellings, and supply them with food for more than a op 1 Bradford, 363.-Smith probably left Plymouth in 1635. (See Mass. Hist. Coll., IV. 108.) year, till there was time for them to make provision for themselves.1 1630. Allerton, who on his late visit to England had endeavored without success to obtain an amendment of the patent, prospered better in a second attempt. The CounThird patent cil for New England conveyed to William Bradof Plymouth. ford, his heirs, associates, and assigns, a tract of Jan. 13. land including New Plymouth, and another on the Kennebec, - both of which, however, for want of geographical knowledge, were imperfectly defined. The patent recites, that it is given "in consideration that William Bradford and his associates have for these nine years lived in New England, and have there inhabited, and planted a town called by the name of New Plymouth, at their own proper costs and charges; and now, . . . . . ..... by the special providence of God and their extraordinary care and industry, they have increased their plantation to near three hundred people, and are upon all occasions able to relieve any new planters or other his Majesty's subjects who may fall upon that coast." It empowers Bradford, "his associates, his heirs, and assigns, at all times hereafter, to incorporate, by some usual or fit name and title, him or 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 frame of government established by the Council, "and the same to put or cause to be put in execution by such officers and ministers as he and they shall authorize and depute"; and, "for their several defence, to encounter, expulse, repel, and resist by force of arms, as well by sea as by land, by all ways and means whatsoever, and . . . . . to take, apprehend, seize, and make prize of all such persons, their ships and goods, as shall attempt to inhabit or trade with the savage people of that country within the 1 Bradford, 245 – 248. several precincts and limits of his and their several plantation, or shall enterprise or attempt, at any time, destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance to his and their said plantation." In short, the patent invested Bradford and his associates, in respect to the granted territory, with all the power which the Council, by its charter, was made capable of conveying to its assigns. A royal charter, with the same powers as that of the Massachusetts Company, was much desired by the Plymouth people. At Allerton's solicitation, orders were given by the Privy Council for the preparation of such an instrument; and the business seemed proceeding prosperously, when a clause for exonerating the colony from the payment of customs for seven years, which appears to have been inserted by Allerton without instructions,1 occasioned objections, delay, and finally complete disappointment. New Plymouth Colony, though soliciting it often, and at no small expense, was never able, before its annexation to Massachusetts, to obtain any better foundation for its government than the patent of the Plymouth Company. 2 Further emi Another party of Leyden people presently came over. The two cost their American friends five hundred and fifty pounds sterling for their outfit and transpor- May. tation from Holland, in addition to the expense gration from of their reception and of their support till the Leyden. second following harvest; "and this charge of maintaining them all this while was little less than the former But the burden was more than willingly borne; "a rare example," writes the reasonably complacent Governor, “of brotherly love and Christian care in performing sum." 1 Bradford, 252. Bradford thought that Allerton raised the question for a selfish purpose," to have an opportunity to be sent over again, for other regards." Shirley supposed that not only Sir Ferdinando Gorges, but Cradock, Winthrop, and others of the Massachusetts Company, interested themselves against a charter for Plymouth. (Mass. Hist. Coll., III. 71, 72.) 2 The patent is in Hazard, I. 298 et seq. et seq. The original instrument, with the signature of the Earl of Warwick, and what remains of the seal of the Council, is kept at Plymouth, in the office of the Register of Deeds. 1 their promises and covenants to their brethren, and in a sort beyond their power." The consequence of this of this generosity was eminently beneficial. In proportion as members of the Leyden congregation became numerous at Plymouth, the better party there—the party of Bradford, Brewster, and their compeers-was strengthened, and the colony was made to conform more to its original design.2 Soon after this increase of numbers, an incident occurred which occasioned much unhappiness. John Billington, An execution of Plymouth, a troublesome associate from the for murder. beginning, having been convicted of wilful murder after trial by a jury, the magistrates consulted "Mr. Winthrop and other the ablest gentlemen in the Bay of the Massachusetts," respecting their competency to inflict the penalty of that crime. They advised, with unanimous consent, that the murderer "ought to die, and the land be purged from blood"; and he was executed accordingly. It was the first instance of capital punishment in New England. The colonists might well question their right to inflict that penalty. But it was idle to think of finding the needed protection for their lives in courts three thousand miles away. And the necessity of the case seemed to impose upon them the responsibility of administering what they esteemed the law of nature and of God. September. For four or five years from this time, the business relations between the partners at New Plymouth and those at London became more and more complicated and unsatisfactory. Allerton, who passed back and forward between them as agent for the Plymouth associates, fell under their serious displeasure for transactions implicating them without their authority, as well as for other alleged misconduct, and was 1 Bradford, 248, 249. 2 They were such as feared God, and were both welcome and useful," wrote Bradford (Letter-Book, in Mass. Hist. Coll., III. 70), though he regretted that they were not of the most considerable persons left at Leyden, nor of such as were best able to provide for themselves. 3 Bradford, 276. continued in his trust only through tenderness for Brewster, whose daughter was Allerton's wife. In two years he had raised their debt from four hundred to four thousand pounds. Still, under the honest and wise conduct of Bradford and his associates, affairs prospered on the small scale which belonged to them. "Though the partners were plunged into great engagements, and oppressed with unjust debts, yet the Lord prospered their trading, that they made yearly large returns. Also the people of the plantation began to grow in their Increase of outward estates, by reason of the flowing of many wealth at people into the country, especially into the Bay of the Massachusetts, by which means corn and cattle rose to a great price, by which many were much enriched, and commodities grew plentiful." 1 1 Plymouth. 1632. A party of Narragansett Indians having pursued some Pokanoket allies of Plymouth to an English outpost, Winthrop sent twenty-seven pounds of powder to Standish, who had been despatched to their April 12. relief; upon which the Narragansetts withdrew. An event of no little interest was a visit of Governor October. Winthrop to Plymouth, accompanied by his pas- and Wilson tor, Mr. Wilson. The journey took two days at Plymouth. each way.2 1 Bradford, 255, 256, 279, 280, 286, 289–291, 302, 309.- Allerton was discharged from his agency for the plantation in 1630. (Ibid., 276.) But he was chosen to be one of the Assistants as late as 1633. In the spring of 1635, he was at Marblehead, as appears from an order of the Massachusetts Assistants passed March 4, for his removal from that place. (Mass. Col. Rec., I. 142.) Marblehead was part of Salem, and Allerton may have followed Roger Williams thither from Plymouth. A writing of his is preserved at Plymouth, in which, under the date of October 27, 1646, he styles himself" of New Amsterdam in Winthrop " the Province of New Netherlands.” In 1643, Winthrop (II. 96) speaks of him as being at New Amsterdam, but calls him "Mr. Allerton of New Haven.' He was at New Haven in February, 1645 (Ibid., 210), and is occasionally mentioned in its Records during the next seven years. He died there in February, 1659, and lies buried in the public square. (Dr. Bacon's Letter, in Mass. Hist. Coll., XXVII. 242.) He had "built a grand house on the creek, with four porches." (Stiles, History of Three of the Judges, 65.) 2 Such an incident should be related in Winthrop's own words (I. 91–93): |