CHAP. Whose territory had escaped the ravages of the pesVIII. tilence, had at first desired to treat of peace. A 1622. bundle of arrows, wrapped in the skin of a rattlesnake, was now the token of his hostility. But when Bradford stuffed the skin with powder and shot and returned it, his courage quailed, and he desired to be in amity with a race of men, whose weapons of war were so terrible. The hostile expedition, which caused the first Indian blood to be shed, grew out of a quarrel, in which the inhabitants of Plymouth were involved by another colony. 1623. Mar. For who will define the limits to the graspings of avarice? The opportunity of gain by the fur-trade had been envied the planters of New-Plymouth; and Weston, who had been active among the London adventurers in establishing the Plymouth colony, now desired to engross the profits, which he already deemed secure. A patent for land near Weymouth, 1622. the first plantation in Boston Harbor, was easily obtained; and a company of sixty men were sent over. Helpless at their arrival, they intruded themselves, for most of the summer, upon the unrequited hospitality of the people of Plymouth. In their plantation, they were soon reduced to necessity by their want of thrift; their injustice towards the Indians 1623. provoked hostility; and a plot was formed for the entire destruction of the English. But the grateful Massassoit revealed the design to his allies; and the planters at Weymouth were saved by the wisdom of the older colony and the intrepid gallantry of Standish. It was "his capital exploit." Some of the DISSOLUTION OF THE PARTNERSHIP. 345 VIII. rescued men went to Plymouth; some sailed for CHAP. England. One short year saw the beginning and end of the Weymouth plantation. "Certainly the 1623. best works and of greatest merit for the public," observes Lord Bacon, "have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men." The great English philosopher was himself a childless man; and allpowerful self-love confirmed his remark. Weston's men, after having boasted of their strength, as far superior to Plymouth, which was weakened, they said, by the presence of children and women, owed their deliverance to the colony, which had many women, children, and weak ones with them. The danger from Indian hostilities was early removed; the partnership with English merchants occasioned greater inconvenience. Robinson and the rest of his church, at Leyden, were suffering from deferred hopes, and were longing to rejoin their brethren in America. The adventurers in England refused to provide them a passage, and attempted, with but short success, to force upon the colonists a clergyman, more friendly to the established church; 1624, thus outraging at once the affections and the religious 1626. scruples of those, whom they had pledged themselves to cherish. Divisions ensued; and the partners in England, offended by opposition, and discouraged at the small returns from their investments, deserted the interests of their associates in America. A ship was even despatched to rival them in their business; goods, which were sent for their supply, were sold to them at an advance of seventy per cent. The to CHAP. curse of usury, which always falls so heavily upon VIII. new settlements, did not spare them; for, being left without help from the partners, they were obliged to borrow money at fifty per cent., and at thirty per cent. interest. At last, the emigrants themselves succeeded in purchasing the entire rights of the English adventurers; the common property was equitably divided; and agriculture established immediately and completely on the basis of private possessions. For a six years' monopoly of the trade, eight of the most enterprizing men assumed all the engagements of the colony; so that the cultivators of the soil became really freeholders; neither debts nor rent-day troubled them. The colonists of Plymouth had exercised selfgovernment, without the sanction of a royal patent. Yet their claim to their lands was valid, according to the principles of English law, as well as natural justice. They had received a welcome from the abo1621. rigines; and the council of Plymouth, through the mediation of Sir Ferdinand Gorges,' immediately issued a patent to John Pierce for their benefit. But the trustee, growing desirous of becoming lord pro1623. prietary and holding them as tenants, obtained a new charter, which would have caused much difficulty, had not his misfortunes compelled him to transfer his rights to the company. When commerce extended to the Kennebec, a patent for the adjacent 1628. territory was easily procured. The same year, Allerton was again sent to London to negotiate an 1 Gorges' Description, p. 24; Briefe Narration, c. xxii. PROGRESS OF THE OLD COLONY. 447 VIII. enlargement of both the grants; and he obtained CHAP. from the council of Plymouth concessions equal to all his desires. But it was ever impossible to ob- 1630. tain a charter from the king; so that, according to the principles adopted in England, the planters, with an unquestionable property in the soil, had no right to assume a separate jurisdiction. It was therefore in the virtues of the colonists themselves, that their institutions found a guarantee for stability. They never doubted their authority to punish for small offences; it was only after some scruples, that they inflicted capital punishment. Their doubts being once removed, they exercised the same authority as the charter governments. Death was, by subsequent laws, made the penalty for several crimes; but was never inflicted except for murder. House-breaking and highway robbery were offences unknown in their courts, and too little apprehended to make them subjects of severe legislation. The progress of population was very slow. The lands in the vicinity were not fertile; and at the end of ten years the colony contained no more than three hundred souls. Few as were their numbers, they had struck deep root, and would have out-lived every storm, even if they had been followed by no other colonies in New-England. Hardly were they planted in America, when their enterprize began to take a wide range; before Massachusetts was settled, they had acquired rights at Cape Ann, as well as an extensive domain on the Kennebec; and they were the first to possess an English settlement on the VIII. 1625. Mar. 1. CHAP. banks of the Connecticut. The excellent Robinson died at Leyden, before the faction in England would permit his removal to Plymouth; his heart was in America, where his memory will never die. The remainder of his people, and with them his wife and children, emigrated, so soon as means could be provided to defray the costs. "To enjoy religious liberty was the known end of the first comers' great adventure into this remote wilderness;" and they desired no increase, but from the friends of their communion. Yet their residence in Holland had made them acquainted with various forms of Christianity; a wide experience had emancipated them from bigotry; and they were never betrayed into the excesses of religious persecution, though they sometimes permitted a disproportion between punishment and crime. The frame of civil government in the Old Colony was of the utmost simplicity. A governor was chosen by general suffrage; whose power, always subordinate to the general will, was, at the desire of 1624. Bradford, specially restricted by a council of five, 1633. and afterwards of seven, assistants. In the council, For more than the governor had but a double vote. eighteen years, "the whole body of the male inhabitants" constituted the legislature; the state was governed, like our towns, as a strict democracy; and the people were frequently convened, to decide on exec1639. utive, not less than on judicial questions. At length, the increase of population, and its diffusion over a wider territory, led to the introduction of the repre |