read Captain John Smith's "Description of New England," and "at length the generality was swayed to the opinion" that "for the hope of present profit to be made by the fishing in that country," it was best for them to plant their colony there, and to negotiate afterward for a patent from the reincorporated Plymouth Council.

There was a much greater difficulty. The compact to be made between "the Adventurers" and "the Planters" was in those Articles of Agreement which had been drawn up at Leyden, and to which Weston had given, unequivocally, his approval and consent. But after the Pilgrims had committed themselves irretrievably, and when they were in the midst of their preparation for the voyage, Weston and some others of the Adventurers insisted on a change. Their pretense was that the articles, as agreed upon at Leyden, were not satisfactory to some whose co-operation was important, and to whom the proposed change would be a sufficient inducement. But the sequel of the story seems to prove that Weston, at least, was one of those traders who take every possible advantage in a bargain. He knew that the Pilgrims were in his power; for they must either relinquish in despair the undertaking to which they had committed their fortunes and their lives, or submit to whatever conditions the Adventurers might impose upon them. The two agents saw that there was no help, and reluctantly submitted. Cushman, always quick to discern the practicable and the inevitable, always prompt to act for himself or for others when action was required, took the responsibility. He, therefore, rather than Carver, had to bear the brunt of the "many quer imonies and complaints" that came from his brethren at Leyden. It was natural for them to complain that he had been making conditions fitter for thieves and bond-slaves than honest men;" but they, too, in their turn submitted to the

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1 "A good man, and of special abilities in his kind, yet most unfit to deal for other men by reason of his singularity and too great indifferency for any conditions."-Robinson, in Bradford, p. 48.

inevitable. They felt, as he did, that it was better to proceed under "conditions fit for thieves and bond-slaves," than to abandon their enterprise after having gone so far.

The Pilgrims had hoped to make a better bargain with their friends in London; for, after all, the Adventurers generally were their friends, whatever might be true of Weston and some others, whose thoughts were of codfish and beaver, and who-under a show of sympathizing zeal-cared more for large profits on their investment than for the Gospel and the kingdom of Christ. Evidently, the influence which had demanded and obtained those new conditions was that of "the merchants" in the copartnership of Adventurers-the men of business, with whom "business was business," who regarded the whole affair as a commercial venture, and whose calculation was that the godliness of these self-sacrificing Pilgrims would yield to the company the promise of this life, while the other party would have for their share the promise of the life to come. Other members of the company-probably a numerical majority—were actuated by higher motives, and were more intent on planting a Christian colony than on making large profits. That Thomas Brewer who had been Brewster's partner in the printing-office at Leyden—and who, "being a man of good estate," was afterward denounced as "the general patron of the Kentish Brownists," and imprisoned fourteen years for his efforts in that cause -was one of them. Others were like-minded with him. But Weston, by his forwardness, and perhaps by his greater acquaintance with commercial affairs, obtained a controlling influence; and the business of the company seems to have been managed for a time by his will. Thus it was that the Pilgrims found themselves under the necessity of submitting to conditions against which not only their judgment but their self-respect protested, and which they would not formally accept.

1 Waddington, "Hidden Church," p. 226. Brewer was one of Laud's prisoners, and was released by an order of the House of Commons, November 28, 1640.

Briefly stated, the plan was this. There were two distinct parties, joint proprietors of the intended colony. One party was the Adventurers, residing in London and its vicinity, who raised the capital to begin and supply the colony, and were to manage the affairs of the partnership considered ast a commercial adventure. They were "about seventy-some gentlemen, some merchants, some handicraftsmen; some adventuring great sums, some small, as their estates and affections served." They were not a legal corporation, but were "knit together by a voluntary combination in a society without constraint or penalty, aiming to do good and to plant religion." The other party was the Planters, members of the Leyden church, with a few more, recruited from Essex and some other parts of England. According to the Articles of Agreement, the partnership between the Adventurers and Planters was a joint-stock company, to continue seven years unless dissolved earlier by general consent. The number of shares was unlimited, at ten pounds each. Every settler in the colony, if not less than sixteen years of age, was to be considered as having contributed one share; and, if self-provided with an outfit of not less than ten pounds' value, two shares. Every child over ten years of age and under sixteen was to be rated at half a share. There was to be no dividend of profits till the end of the seven years; and, in the mean time, every person in the colony was to be supported out of the common stock, and to labor under direction, without wages, for the benefit of the great partnership. At the winding up of the concern, all the capital, with the accumulated profits (including the colony itself, with its lands and houses, and not excepting even household goods), was to be divided among the stockholders in proportion to their shares.2

1 Captain John Smith's "General History of Virginia" (1624), quoted in Young, p. 81, 82.

2 Other articles in the contract were, that "such children as now go, and are under the age of ten years, have no other share in the division but only fifty acres of unmanured (uncleared) land;" and that "such persons as die

In other words, the Pilgrims-men, women, and little oneswere to be bond-servants to the company for seven years; in all that time, no man of them was to labor, spend, or save for himself or for his wife and children; and, at the end, he was to receive for his seven years of labor and hardship in the wilderness, and of peril by sea and land, just the same share of the total product with the man who had contributed ten pounds, and lived quietly all the while in London. was a hard bargain, but they submitted to the harsh conditions, because there was no other way in which they could pursue their heroic enterprise.

It

before the seven years be expired, their executors to have their part or share at the division, proportionately to the time of their life in the colony."

In drawing up the Articles of Agreement, the Pilgrims stipulated that the houses and the land under cultivation-especially gardens and home lots— should be, at the end of the seven years' partnership, the property of the planters; and also that every man-especially such as had families-should be at liberty, two days in a week, to work for himself. These were the two stipulations which the merchants, against the protest of the Pilgrims, insisted on striking out of the contract.

T

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM LEYDEN TO SOUTHAMPTON.-ROBINSON'S PASTORAL LETTER. THE PILGRIMS THE REFORMERS OF SEPARATISM.

HARDLY less than three years had passed since the resolution was taken at Leyden to attempt the founding of a colony, and the first expedition was not yet ready. It ought to have been set forth early in the summer, so that there should be time after its arrival to make preparation for the winter. But so many were the hinderances to be overcome by the agents in England, that the longest day of summer (June 11-21, 1620) had come, when Cushman wrote from London, "I hope we shall get all here ready in fourteen days." He and Weston had resolved to hire a ship, and had obtained the refusal of one for a day or two-not so large as would be desirable, only about a hundred and eighty tons; for a greater one," said he, " we can not get, except it be too great; but a fine ship it is." It was the MAYFLOWER.

At the same time a much smaller vessel—the Speedwell, of sixty tons-was purchased and fitted in Holland. She was to accompany the Mayflower as a transport, and was then to remain in the service of the colony as a fishing and coasting vessel. She was first to be employed in conveying the Leyden part of the expedition to Southampton, in England, the port whence they were to sail for America. Once more the pioneer Pilgrims were to see the green fields of their native land.

When all other preparations had been completed, the church again devoted a day to humiliation and united prayer (July 11-21), the crowning preparation. Their pastor "spent a good part of the day very profitably and suitably to their present occasion," preaching—or, rather, teaching—from an