that they live unblamable and without reproof, and demean themselves justly and courteously towards the Indians." There was much more to the same effect. And through the whole period of the colonial history, the legislation respecting the natives was eminently just and humane.1 of food. 1633. The last harvest raised by the English in and about Boston had been scanty, by reason of cold and wet weather through the summer. Inadequate supplies Scarcity came from England, and, the winter which succeeded proving a severe one, the settlers suffered scarcely less than in that which immediately followed their arrival. The hardship of the time did not prevent energetic action when intelligence arrived of the concentration of a French force at Port Royal in Nova Scotia, Jan. 17. accompanied by "divers priests and Jesuits." The Governor convened the Assistants, with "the ministers, and captains, and some other chief men," to against the consult upon measures proper to be taken for security against neighbors so unwelcome. determined to build a fort at Nantasket, "to be some block in an enemy's way, though it could not bar his entrance"; to finish that which had been laid out at Boston; and to see "that a plantation should be begun at Agawam [Ipswich], being the best place in the land for tillage and cattle, lest an enemy, finding it void, should possess and take it from us." 2 Preparations French. And it was It was fortunate, in respect to the deficient supply of 1 "It is agreed that Sir Richard Saltonstall shall give Sagamore John a hogshead of corn for the hurt his cattle did him in his corn." (Mass. Col. Rec., I. 102.) "It is ordered that Nicholas Frost, for theft committed by him at Damarill's Cove upon the Indians, shall be severely whipped, and branded in the hand with a hot iron, and after banished out of this patent, with penalty that, if ever he be found within the limits of the said patent, he shall be put to death." (Ibid., 100; comp. 121, 133.) That specimens of this kind of legislation are not more frequent, is owing to the determination which it expressed, to the effect of its severity upon disorderly persons, and to the right feeling towards the natives which was generally entertained. 2 Winthrop, I. 99. food, that there had been but little addition to the number of the immigrants since the arrival of Governor Winthrop's company.1 Persons in England who were meditating a removal were naturally willing further to watch the experiment as it was made by those who had gone before; and what they had learned respecting it had not been highly encouraging. The accounts which had been received of sickness and famine, and the return of some whose resolution had not held out, could not fail to give a check to the enterprise. Representations injurious to the Colony had been made by the Brownes, Morton, Gardiner, Ratcliff, and others, and were backed by the great interest of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and of John Mason, who was concerned with him in the Eastern grants. These had not been without effect upon the minds of men in power; and well-founded apprehensions were now felt of annoyance from the home government. arraigned be Council. The malecontents had actually prevailed to have their complaints entertained by the Privy Council; "among The Colony many truths misrepeated," writes Winthrop, "acfore the Privy Cusing us to intend rebellion, to have cast off our allegiance, and to be wholly separate from the Church and laws of England; that our ministers and people did continually rail against the state, Church, and bishops there, &c." Saltonstall, Humphrey, and Cradock (Ratcliff's master) appeared before a committee of the Council in the Company's behalf, and had the address or the good fortune to vindicate their clients, so that, on the termination of the affair, the king said "he would Jan. 19. have them severely punished who did abuse his Governor and the plantation"; and from members of the Privy Council it was learned, says Winthrop, "that his Majesty did not intend to impose the ceremonies of the Church of England upon us, for that it was considered 2 See above, pp. 298, 319, 330, 1633. 1 The number of immigrants in 1631 had been about 90; and 250 in 1632. 351. that it was the freedom from such things that made people come over to us; and it was credibly informed to the Council, that this country would in time be very beneficial to England for masts, cordage, &c., if the Sound [the passage to the Baltic] should be debarred." 1 The reasons for dismissing the complaint were alleged in the order adopted by the Council to that effect: "Most of the things informed being denied, and resting to be proved by parties that must be called from that place, which required a long expense of time, and at the present their lordships finding that the adventurers were upon the despatch of men, victuals, and merchandises for that place, all which would be at a stand if the adventurers should have discouragement, or take suspicion that the state here had no good opinion of that plantation, — their lordships, not laying the fault, or fancies (if any be), of some particular men upon the general government, or principal adventurers, which in due time is further to be inquired into, have thought fit in the mean time to declare that the appearances were so fair, and the hopes so great, that the country would prove both beneficial to this kingdom and profitable to the particular adventurers, as that the adventurers had cause to go on cheerfully with their undertakings, and rest assured, if things were carried as was pretended when the patents were granted, and accordingly as by the patents it is appointed, his Majesty would not only maintain the liberties and privileges heretofore granted, but supply anything further that might tend to the good government of the place, and prosperity and comfort to his people there." 2 1 Winthrop, I. 100, 108. 2 Journal of the Privy Council. The business had been brought before the Lords of the Privy Council, December 19, 1632, by "several petitions of fered by some planters of New England, and a written declaration by Sir Christopher Gardiner, Knt."; when, "upon long debate of the whole carriage of the plantations of that country," twelve Lords, with authority to call to their assistance any persons whom they should see fit, were directed to "examine how the patents for the said plantations have been granted, and how carried," and "the truth of the May 29. At the annual election in the following spring, for a fourth time Winthrop was made Governor and Dudley Deputy-Governor, and the eight Assistants of the Re-election of last year were re-chosen, with the addition of Sir magistrates. Richard Saltonstall, who was expected soon to return from England. By an appointment of the magistrates at their first meeting, "a day of thanksgiving was kept in all the congregations for their deliverance from the plots of their enemies"; and they made a grant of "one hundred and fifty pounds to the Governor, for this present year, towards his public charges and extraordinary expenses." June 19. July 2. aforesaid informations, or such other informations as shall be presented to them," and to "make report thereof to this Board, and of the true state of the plantations as they find them now to stand; for which purpose they are to call before them such of the patentees and such of the complainants and their witnesses, or any other persons, as they shall think fit." (Ibid.) Emanuel Downing, father of the more famous Sir George Downing, and brother-in-law of Winthrop, proved a good friend to the Massachusetts planters on this occasion. Thomas Wiggin, of Piscataqua, was another. There is in the State-Paper Office a letter from him, dated November 19, 1632, to "Sir John Cooke, Knt., Principal Secretary to his Majesty." He had lately been in New England in America." The English "in the Massachusetts" were "about two thousand people, young and old,” and were "generally most industrious and fit for such a work." He says: "I have observed the planters there, by their loving, just, and kind dealing with the Indians, have gotten their love and respect and drawn them to an outward conformity to the English, so that the Indians repair to the English Governor there and his deputies for justice. And for the Governor himself, I have observed him to be a 66 Renewal of tion. Sept. 4. The death of Archbishop Abbot, making way for the accession of the furious Laud to the primacy, was nearly contemporaneous with the renewal of emigration to New England. Several parties of colonists1 the emigranow arrived at Boston, in one of which came John Haynes, an opulent landholder of the county of Essex, and three famous divines, Thomas Hooker, Samuel Stone, and John Cotton. They were men of eminent capacity and sterling character, fit to be concerned in the founding of a state. In all its generations of worth and refinement, Boston has never seen an assembly more illustrious for generous qualities or for manly culture, than when the magistrates of the young colony welcomed Cot ton and his fellow-voyagers at Winthrop's table. Hooker and Stone went to Newtown, and were chosen, the former to be pastor, and the latter to be teacher, of a church established there. In the sequel of a conference between the "Governor and Council" and "the ministers and elders of all the churches,"2 Cotton, much coveted by other plantations, was associated with Wilson as teacher of the Boston church. The new ministers were severally inducted to their offices with solemnities similar to those which had been first adopted at Salem. The borough of Boston in Lincolnshire, which perhaps had already furnished to Massachusetts some of its eminent settlers, stands low upon the river Witham, five 1 The number, in 1633, was about seven hundred. (Winthrop, I. 100, 102, 104, 105, 108, 111, 115.) 2 Ibid., 112. 3 As early as March, 1629, ten "Boston men " had proposed to take a large interest in the Company (see above, p. 292). Of distinguished early emigrants to Massachusetts, commonly referred to the English Boston (see Young, Massachusetts, 48, note 3), Dudley and Coddington came over with the charter; Hough accompanied Cotton, and Bel lingham, Leverett, and Hutchinson came later. The Reverend Mr. Whiting, of Saugus, had been rector of the church at Skirbeck, a mile from Boston. It is from Cotton Mather (Magnalia, Book II. Chap. V.) that we have the particulars of Dudley's early life; and I do not see that he had a motive for misstating them, or that, situated as he was, he could have been mistaken in them. Yet, contrary to his testimony, Thomson (History and Antiquities of Boston, 427) says: "Boston has no |