Dec. 8.

the harbor, belonging to strangers, which cost her near eight hundred pounds, and set sail for her fort;" and the master got away clandestinely with his ship.1

D'Aulnay.

Just after her arrival at Boston, an envoy had also come thither from the opposite party, "one Marie, supposed to be a friar, but habited like a gen- Embassy tleman." He produced three papers; namely, from "the King of France his commission [to D'Aulnay] under the great seal of France, with the privy seal annexed;" the verification of a sentence against La Tour "as a rebel and traitor ;" and an order for his and his wife's arrest, and transportation to France. "He complained of the wrong done by our men the last year in assisting of La Tour, &c., and proffered terms of peace and amity." "

"We answered to the first," says Winthrop, "that divers of the ships and most of the men were strangers to us, and had no commission from us, nor any permission to use any hostility, and we were very sorry when we heard what had been done. This gave him satisfaction. To the other proposition we answered that we could not conclude any league with him without the advice of the Commissioners of the United Colonies; but if he would set down his propositions in writing, we would consider further of them." In the sequel of the negotiation, the Magistrates agreed to present for the approbation of the Commissioners, at their next meeting, a

1 Ibid., 198-202. (I presume that the word "yet," at the end of page 199, was, in the manuscript, y', and that it should be read that.) Comp. Mass. Hist. Coll., XXVII. 98, 99.

Marie was followed by a letter from D'Aulnay to Endicott, dated at Port Royal, October 21, 1644, which is in the Massachusetts Archives, and has been published in the Collections of

Oct. 8.

the Historical Society (XXVII. 92). In it he justifies his taking possession of the post on the Penobscot, as belonging to the territory of his sovereign, and discusses other points of the controversy. The letter was in answer to one, in a conciliatory but firm tone, which had been addressed to him by the government of Massachusetts before his return from abroad. (Ibid., 99.)

treaty-which was to be binding meanwhile - for "firm peace" and free commerce between the jurisdictions of Massachusetts and D'Aulnay, without obligation upon the Massachusetts government "to restrain their merchants to trade with their ships with any persons, either French or other, wheresoever they dwelt." La Tour's wife, "known to be the cause of his contempt and rebellion," Marie told the Magistrates he must pursue and capture, though she were in a Massachusetts vessel;1 but, with the three ships hired at Boston, she joined her husband in safety at St. John. It may be presumed, that, in the course of the negotiation, Marie had been informed of the fact that Massachusetts had been authorized by the Commissioners, if he proved stubborn, to make reprisals on his master's commerce, and even to provide the means of overawing him by the purchase and occupation of La Tour's fort at St. John.

Sept. 9.

It will not have escaped attention, on what different terms these negotiations had been conducted on the one part and on the other. Each of the Frenchmen professed to be acting against his rival under the authority of the royal master of both. But Massachusetts treated with both, and entertained the question of peace or war, in the character of a state independent of all the world, except of the Confederacy of which she was the head.s

Washington, published, in a translation, in Mass. Hist. Coll., XXXIV. 462 et seq. I have had these accounts before me in constructing my narrative, as well as that of Mr. Haliburton, in his History of Nova Scotia.

The settlement of the dispute so far was a great relief to the principality of Gorges (see Vol. I. 525), which, while it lay exposed to annoyance from D'Aulnay, was incompetent to its own defence. (Letter of Thomas Gorges to Winthrop, of June 28, 1643, in Hazard, I. 498.)

The protest of D'Aulnay against the course of the Massachusetts Magistrates in permitting his enemy to hire vessels and enlist men within their jurisdic- Proceedings

eral Commis

sioners at

their second

meeting.

Sept. 5.

tion, was not unreasonable. The Federal Commissioners, coming together, for the second time, soon after the troublesome consequences of that proceeding had appeared, must be considered to have intended to express a censure of it, in terms not disrespectful to Massachusetts, when they passed a general order, "that no jurisdiction within this Confederation shall permit any voluntaries to go forth in a warlike way against any people whatsoever, without order and direction of the Commissioners of the several jurisdictions."

The record of other proceedings at this meeting. which, like the first, lasted a fortnight or more1— gives an idea of what were regarded as the proper subjects for the cognizance of the Commissioners. They entertained an application from Massachusetts for a share in the lands conquered from the Pequots, and a communication from Mr. Fenwick respecting the conflicting right of his principals. They advised the General Courts of the sev eral Colonies to make permanent provision by law for a proper maintenance of the clergy. They "commended to the several General Courts, as a matter worthy of due consideration and entertainment, the maintenance of poor scholars at the College at Cambridge," and approved a proposal to "every family, able and willing to give, throughout the plantations, to give yearly towards that object but the fourth part of a bushel of corn, or something equivalent thereunto."2 They authorized Massachusetts

to "receive Martin's [Martha's] Vineyard into their jurisdiction, if they saw cause." They confirmed provisionally to Massachusetts the jurisdiction over Woranoake (Westfield), against a claim of Mr. Fenwick. Under the penalty of a fine, prescribed by their own authority, they forbade the selling of arms and of ammunition to the Indians; and they "commended unto the serious consideration of the several jurisdictions, whether it were not expedient and necessary to prohibit the selling of the aforesaid ammunition either to the French or Dutch." They provided for a proportionate distribution to the several Colonies of "powder and other gifts given to New England in general," such gifts from abroad having perhaps been found too apt to get no further than Massachusetts. They recommended to the several Colonies a plan for the institution of a joint-stock company for trade with the Indians, to be invested with a monopoly of the trade, but to include every person, or partnership, contributing to its funds not less than twenty pounds.1

"Some of the inhabitants of Rhode Island having intimated a willingness to be received into and under the government of one of the Colonies, the Commissioners,

lected. See Mass. Rec., II. 86; Conn. Rec., I. 112, 139; N. H. Rec., I. 149, 210, 225, 311, 318, 354, 357, 382. New Haven was exemplarily attentive to the collection of "the College corn."

1 This scheme appears to have originated in Massachusetts. (Mass. Rec., II. 60; comp. Winthrop, II. 160.) I do not know that anything came of it, though Connecticut agreed to engage in it, “if other jurisdictions do the like," (Conn. Rec., I. 113,) and Massachusetts set some machinery at work to carry it into effect. (Mass. Rec., II. 86.) Plymouth, "thankfully acknowledging the love and respect" of her sister Colonies, declined joining with them in

the adventure, on account of insufficient means, as well as of doubts about its success. (Plym. Rec., II. 82.)

The curious letter of Coddington to Winthrop, which I have quoted for another purpose above (139, note 3), may be thought to throw some light upon this proceeding. It is dated August 5, 1644, one month before the meeting of the Commissioners. I cannot but believe that before Bradstreet and Hathorne went to Hartford, Winthrop had at least given them a hint of the state of Coddington's mind.

"I desire to have either such alliance with yourselves or Plymouth, one or both, as might be safe for us all, I having chief interest on this island, it being

considering that, by an utter refusal, they might by the discords and divisions among themselves be exposed to some great inconveniences, and hoping many of them might be reduced to a better frame by government, thought fit, that, if the major part, and such as had most interest in the island, would absolutely and without reservation submit, either Massachusetts or Plymouth might receive them." They provided for a yearly return of a census in each Colony of "males from sixteen to sixty years of age." They advised the governments of the several Colonies to establish a prima facie recognition of the acts of each other's Courts. They approved the recent proceedings of Massachusetts in relation to the French combatants, and assured her of their support if D'Aulnay should prove impracticable. They instructed their President ❝ to take care for the providing some man or men to find and lay out the best way to the Bay, from Connecticut, at the common charge." In consideration of some recent arming by New Haven and Connecticut against the Indians, they determined that, in cases of expense incurred by any Colony for military operations, "no charge was to be borne by the rest till all the grounds and occasions of the war should be considered, and the jurisdiction invaded cleared by the Commission

bought to me and my friends; and how inconvenient it might be if it were possessed by an enemy, lying in the heart of the plantations, and convenient for shipping, I cannot but see; but I want both counsel and strength to effect what I desire. I desire to hear from you, and that you would bury what I write in deep silence; for what I write I never imparted to any, nor would to you, had I the least doubt of your faithfulness that it should be uttered to my prejudice."

Coddington's wish for a union with Massachusetts or Plymouth, in order

to the enjoyment of more quiet in his home, was, it seems, shared by not a few others. Holden says, in a postscript to his letter to the "Idol General" (September 15, 1643): “The island being at such divisions within itself, some earnestly desiring it should be delivered into your hands, professing their unity with you, others denied it, professing their dissent and division from you." (Hypocrisie Unmasked, 35.) The stern dealing of Massachusetts with the disturbers at Providence may well have tended to keep "the island" in some restraint.