engaged himself beyond all expectation in the business, following out what seems to have been the early design, proposed "the transfer of the government of the plantation to those that should inhabit there." At the offer of freedom from subordination to the company in England, several "persons of worth and quality," wealthy commoners, zealous Puritans, were confirmed in the desire of founding a new and a better commonwealth beyond the Atlantic, even though it might require the sale of their estates, and hazard the inheritance of their children. To his father, who was the most earnest of them all, the younger Winthrop, then about four-and-twenty, wrote cheeringly: "I shall call that my country where I may most glorify God, and enjoy the presence of my dearest friends. Therefore herein I submit myself to God's will and yours, and dedicate myself to God and the company, with the whole endeavors both of body and mind. The Conclusions which you sent down are unanswerable; and it cannot but be a prosperous action which is so well allowed by the judg ments of God's prophets, undertaken by so religious and wise worthies in Israel, and indented to God's glory in so special a service."

On the twenty-sixth of August, at Cambridge, in England, twelve men, of large fortunes and liberal culture, among whom were John Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, Thomas Dudley, Richard Saltonstall, bearing in mind that the adventure could grow only upon confidence in each other's fidelity and resolution, bound themselves in the presence of God, by the word of a Christian, that if before the end of September an order of the court should legally transfer the whole government, together with the patent, they would themselves pass the seas to inhabit and continue in New England. Two days after this covenant had been executed, the subject was again brought before the court; a serious and long-continued debate ensued, and on the twenty-ninth of August a general consent appeared, by the erection of hands, that "the government and patent should be settled in New England."

This vote, by which the commercial corporation became the germ of an independent commonwealth, was simply a decision of the question where the future meetings of the

company should be held; it was sanctioned by the best legal advice; its lawfulness was at the time not questioned by the privy council; at a later day was expressly affirmed by Sawyer, the attorney-general; and, in 1677, the chief justices Rainsford and North still described the "charter as making the adventurers a corporation upon the place." Similar patents were granted by the Long Parliament and Charles II., to be executed in Rhode Island and Connecticut; and Baltimore and Penn had an undisputed right to reside in their domains. The removal of the place of holding the courts from London to the bay of Massachusetts changed nothing in the relations of the company to the crown, and it conferred no franchise or authority on emigrants who were not members of the company; but the corporate body and their successors retained the chartered right of making their own selection of the persons whom they would admit to the freedom of the company. The conditions on which the privilege should be granted would control the political character of Massachusetts.

At a very full general court, convened on the twentieth of October for the choice of new officers out of those who were to join the plantation, John Winthrop, of Groton in Suffolk, of whom "extraordinary great commendations had been received both for his integrity and sufficiency, as being one altogether well fitted and accomplished for the place of governor," was by erection of hands elected to that office for one year from that day; and with him were joined a deputy and assistants, of whom nearly all proposed to go over. The greatness of the undertaking brought a necessity for a supply of money. It was resolved that the business should be proceeded in with its first intention, which was chiefly the glory of God; and to that purpose its meetings were sanctified by the prayers and guided by the advice of Archer and Nye, two faithful ministers in London. Of the old stock of the company, two thirds had been lost; the remainder, taken at its true value, with fresh sums adventured by those that pleased, formed a new stock, which was to be managed by ten undertakers, five chosen out of adventurers remaining in England and five out of the planters. The undertakers, receiving privileges in the fur trade and in transportation, assumed all engagements and

charges, and after seven years were to divide the stock and profits; but their privileges were not asserted, and nine tenths of the capital were sunk in the expenses of the first year. There was nothing to show for the adventure but the commonwealth which it helped to found. Of ships for transporting passengers, Cradock furnished two. The large ship, the Eagle, purchased by members of the company, took the name of Arbella, from a sister of the earl of Lincoln, wife to Isaac Johnson, who was to sail in it. The corporation, which had not many more than one hundred and ten members, could not meet the continual outlays for colonization; another common stock was therefore raised from such as bore good affection to the plantation, to defray public charges, such as maintenance of ministers, transportation of poor families, building of churches and fortifications. To the various classes of contributors and emigrants, frugal grants of land promised some indemnity. In this manner, by the enterprise of the ten undertakers and other members of the company, especially of those who were ship-owners, by the contributions of Puritans in England, but mainly by the resources of the emigrants themselves, there were employed, during the season of 1630, seventeen vessels, which brought over not far from a thousand souls, besides horses, kine, goats, and all that was most necessary for planting, fishing, and ship-building.

As the hour of departure drew near, the hearts of some even of the strong began to fail. On the eighteenth of March, 1630, it became necessary at Southampton to elect three substitutes among the assistants; and, of these three, one never came over. Even after they had embarked, a court was held on board the Arbella, and Thomas Dudley was chosen deputy governor in the place of Humphrey, who stayed behind. It was principally the calm decision of Winthrop which sustained the courage of his companions. In him a yielding gentleness of temper and a never failing desire for unity and harmony were secured against weakness by deep but tranquil enthusiasm. His nature was touched by the sweetest sympathies of affection for wife, children, and associates; cheerful in serving others and suffering with them, liberal without reluctance, helpful without reproaching, in him God so exercised his grace that

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he discerned his own image and resemblance in his fellow-man, and cared for his neighbor like himself. He was of a sociable nature; so that "to love and be beloved was his soul's paradise," and works of mercy were the habit of his life. Parting from affluence in England, he unrepiningly went to meet impoverishment and premature age for the welfare of Massachusetts. His lenient benevolence tempered the bigotry of his companions, without impairing their resoluteness. An honest royalist, averse to pure democracy, yet firm in his regard for existing popular liberties; in his native parish, a conformist, yet wishing for "gospel purity;" in America, mildly aristocratic, advocating a government of "the least part," yet desiring that part to be "the wiser of the best;" disinterested, brave, and conscientious-his character marks the transition of the reformation into virtual republicanism. The sentiment of loyalty, which it was still intended to cherish, gradually yielded to the unobstructed spirit of civil freedom.

England rung from side to side with the "general rumor of this solemn enterprise." On leaving the isle of Wight, Winthrop and the chief of his fellow-passengers on board the Arbella, including the ministers, bade an affectionate farewell "to the rest of their brethren in and of the church of England." "Reverend fathers and brethren," such was their address to them, "howsoever your charitie may have met with discouragement through the misreport of our intentions, or the indiscretion of some amongst us, yet we desire you would be pleased to take notice that the principals and body of our company esteem it our honor to call the church of England, from whence wee rise, our deare mother, and cannot part from our native countrie, where she specially resideth, without much sadnes of heart and marty tears in our eyes; blessing God for the parentage and education, as members of the same body, and, while we have breath, we shall syncerely indeavour the continuance and abundance of her welfare.

"Be pleased, therefore, reverend fathers and brethren, to helpe forward this worke now in hand; which, if it prosper, you shall bee the more glorious. It is a usuall exercise of your charity to recommend to the prayers of your congregations the straights of your neighbours: do the like for a church spring

ing out of your owne bowels; pray without ceasing for us, who are a weake colony from yourselves.

"What we intreat of you that are ministers of God, that we crave at the hands of all the rest of our brethren, that they would at no time forget us in their private solicitations at the Throne of Grace. If any, through want of cleare intelligence of our course, or tenderness of affection towards us, cannot conceive so well of our way as we could desire, we would intreat such not to desert us in their prayers, and to express their compassion towards us.

"What goodness you shall extend to us, wee, your brethren in Christ Jesus, shall labour to repay; wishing our heads and hearts may be as fountains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when wee shall be in our poore cottages in the wildernesse, overshadowed with the spirit of supplication, through the manifold necessities and tribulations which may not altogether unexpectedly, nor, we hope, unprofitably befall us."

About seven hundred persons or more-most of them Puritans, inclining to the principles of the Independents; not conformists, but not separatists; many of them men of high endowments and large fortune; scholars, well versed in the learning of the times; clergymen, who ranked among the best educated and most pious in the realm-embarked with Winthrop in eleven ships, bearing with them the charter which was to be the warrant of their liberties. The land was to be planted with a noble vine, wholly of the right seed. The principal emigrants were a community of believers, professing themselves to be fellow-members of Christ; not a school of philosophers, proclaiming universal toleration and inviting associates without regard to creed. They desired to be bound together in a most intimate and equal intercourse, for one and the same great end. They knew that they would be as a city set upon a hill, and that the eyes of all people were upon them. Reverence for their faith led them to pass over the vast seas to the good land of which they had purchased the exclusive possession, with a charter of which they had acquired the entire control, for the sake of reducing to practice the system of religion and the forms of civil liberty which they cherished more than life itself. They constituted a corporation to which