USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 9
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The accomptant having made an estimate of the accounts, the joint stock appears to be in arrear £3000, and upwards. Towards which £3000 there is [£]1900 in subscriptions not yet brought in, and about 8 or £900 upon freight of ships.
There will be a necessity for supply of necessaries for the Company's servants, £20001
For merchandises for trade, 500
For munition and artillery for fortification, 500
So as there being an inevitable necessity of [a] supply of money, either to revive the old stock or to raise a new, the propositions were now expressed, viz.
1. That all the former adventurers should double their former subscriptions.
2. That the servants, cattle, and all merchandises or provisions belonging to the joint stock, should be sold, and the underwriters be paid their propor- tions of what shall accrue or arise thereof.
1 Felt, Annals of Salem, i. 141, errs in making this £1000.
111
UNDERTAKERS PROPOSED.
3. Or lastly, that the old stock be put over to cer- CHAP. III. tain undertakers, upon such conditions as can be~ agreed on, and they to go on with the work and 1629. Nov. 25. manage the business, to bear all charges, and to stand to profit and loss, and to pay the underwriters their principal by them brought, at the end of seven years ; and this to be understood not to exclude any who have affection to this business, but that they may come in under those undertakers for such sums as they shall think fit to adventure; but that for the better furtherance and facilitating the business, the same to be managed by few hands. And for the en- couragement of such undertakers, the committee have thought of certain inducements, viz.
That they shall have The one half of the beaver ;
The sole making of salt ;
The sole transportation of passengers, - servants and goods to be transported at reasonable rates ;
To be allowed a reasonable profit upon all such provisions as they shall keep in magazine there for the use and relief of the inhabitants.
All which premises the Governor recommended to the consideration of those present. But by reason. of the small appearance, nothing could be determin- ed ; and therefore a special Court is appointed for this purpose on Monday next, and the whole Com- pany to be summoned by tickets to be present.
Lastly, upon the motion of Mr. Whyte, to the end that this business might be proceeded in with the first intention, which was chiefly the glory of God, and to that purpose that their meetings might be
112
CHAPLAINS OF THE GENERAL COURT.
CHAP. sanctified by the prayers1 of some faithful ministers III. resident here in London, whose advice would be 1629. likewise requisite upon many occasions, the Court
Nov.
25. thought fit to admit into the freedom of this Com- pany2 Mr. John Archer3 and Mr. Philip Nye,4 min- isters here in London, who being here present kindly accepted thereof. Also Mr. Whyte did recommend unto them Mr. Nathaniel Ward,5 of Standon.
1 This shows the antiquity of the practice, still observed in Massachu- setts, of opening the meetings of the Legislature, or General Court, with prayer.
2 This admission of freemen was authorized by the Charter of the Company, and was a practice long observed in the Colony. The Char- ter provides, that " the Governor and Company shall have full power and authority to choose, nominate and appoint such and so many as they shall think fit, and that shall be willing to accept the same, to be free of the said Company and Body, and them into the same to admit."
3 I can find no account of John Archer in Newcourt's Repertorium Ecclesiasticum, nor in any of the ecclesiastical registers. I doubt therefore whether he was a minister of London. There may be an error perhaps in the Christian name.
4 Philip Nye was born in 1596, and was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he took the degree of A. M. in 1622. In 1630, accord- ing to Anthony Wood, be was cu- rate of St. Michael's church in Corn- hill, London. In 1633 he fled from Laud's persecutions into Holland, and became minister of a church at Arnheim, where he remained till the end of 1640, at the opening of the Long Parliament, when he returned to England. In 1643 he was ap- pointed one of the Assembly of Di- vines, and the same year was sent by the Parliament into Scotland, with Sir Henry Vane, jr. and Ste- phen Marshall, whose daughter he
had married, as commissioners to ask for assistance and expedite the Covenant. He was one of the chap- lains who attended the commis- sioners to Charles I. in the Isle of Wight in December, 1647, and was made one of the Triers of preachers in 1653. He was the principal per- son in managing the meeting of the Congregational Churches at the Sa- voy, by the Protector's order, held Oct. 12, 1658. At the Restoration in 1660, it was debated in Parlia- ment whether he should be except- ed from the bill of indemnity, and his life was spared solely on condi- tion that he should never hold any office, civil, ecclesiastica], or milita- ry. He died in 1672, aged 76. See Wood's Athen. Oxon. iii. 963, Fasti, i. 386, 406 ; Clarendon's Rebellion, iv. 153.
5 Nathaniel Ward, the eccentric and facetious author of " The Sim- ple Cobbler of Agawam in Ameri- ca," was the son of John Ward, a celebrated Puritan divine, and was born at Haverhill, in Suffolk, of which town his father was minister, about the year 1570. He was en- tered at Emanuel College, Cam- bridge, in 1596, and took the degree of A. M. in 1603. He was origin- ally intended for the law ; but trav- elling on the continent, he fell in at Heidelberg with the learned David Paræus, by whom his mind was turned to theology. On his return to England, he became preacher at St. James's, Duke's Place, London, in 1626, and afterwards was rector of Standon Massye, in Essex, 16
113
LIABILITIES OF THE JOINT STOCK.
A General Court at Mr. Goff's house, on Monday, the CHAP. III.
last of November, 1629. Present,
1629.
MR. JOHN WINTHROP, Governor,
MR. JOHN HUMFRY, Deputy, MR. GEORGE HARWOOD, Treasurer,
Nov. 30.
SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL, MR. THOMAS ADAMS,
MR. ISAAC JOHNSON,
MR. THEOPHILUS EATON,
MR. THOMAS GOFF,
MR. INCREASE NOELL,
MR. THOMAS DUDLEY,
MR. JOHN REVELL,
MR. NATHANIEL WRIGHT,
MR. WILLIAM PINCHON,
MR. MATTHEW CRADOCK,
Assistants.
With many of the Generality. - 25.
It was propounded to the Court that whereas the joint stock was engaged to the value of £2500, pre- sent debt, and there was necessarily required £1500
miles from London, where he felt the iron hand of the intolerant Laud. There is extant a letter of his, writ- ten to John Cotton, Dec. 13, 1631, in which he says, "I was yesterday convented before the bishop, I mean to his court, and am adjourned to the next term. I expect measure hard enough, and must furnish apace with proportionable armor." Hav- ing been excommunicated and de- prived of his clerical office for non- conformity, he came over to Mas- sachusetts in 1634, and was soon chosen pastor of the church in Ips- wich, from which office he was dis- charged at his own request in 1636. In 1641 he was chosen by the free- men of the Colony, without the con- sent of the Governor and magistrates, to preach the Election Sermon. At the request of the General Court he composed " The Body of Liberties," which in Dec. 1641, was adopted by them, and was the first Code of Laws established in New-England. Win- throp, in recording this transaction, says that Ward " had been formerly a student and practiser in the course of the common law ;" and the learn-
ed editor of the Code remarks that " The Body of Liberties exhibits throughout the hand of the practised lawyer, familiar with the principles and the securities of English liberty." In 1647 he returned to England, and became minister of Shenfield, in Essex, where he died, aged about 83. Fuller places him among the learned writers of Emanuel College, Cambridge, and also mentions him in his Worthies of England, ii. 344. "The Simple Cobbler of Agawam," by which he is now best known, was written in this country, and printed at London in 1647, and reprinted at Boston in 1686 and again in 1843. A good account of it and its author may be seen in the Monthly Anthol- ogy, vi. 341. Mr. Savage speaks of it as a " work very attractive for its humor, and curious for its exe- crable spirit." See Col. Records, i. 217, 317, MS. ; Mather's Magna- lia, i. 470; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 120; Winthrop's N. E. i. 154, 322, ii. 35, 55 ; Mass. Hist. Coll. xiv. 2, xxviii. 190-237, 248, 9; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 917, ii. 545.
8
114
PRIVILEGES OF THE JOINT STOCK.
CHAP. present disbursement for maintenance of the servants III. now in the Plantation, and for commodities for truck
1629. and munition, that the adventurers would be pleased Nov. 30. to double their former subscriptions. Which being not assented unto by the Court, it was propounded and agreed by general consent, that ten persons should be chosen, five of the adventurers, and five of the planters, who should take the joint stock at the true value, and take upon them the engagements and other charges ; for which there should be appropri- ated to the joint stock, for seven years, these privi- leges which follow, viz.
1. Half the trade of the beavers, and all other furs,
2. The sole making of salt,
3. The furnishing of a magazine at set rates,
4. The sole transportation of passengers and goods at certain rates.
Dec. 1.
For which end there was a committee appointed to value the joint stock, viz. Mr. White,1 of Dorches- ter, Mr. Thomas Goff, Mr. Webb, Mr. Increase No- ell ; who taking upon them the charge of the said business, did the next day (the Court then sitting upon adjournment,) make certificate of their pro- ceedings to this effect, viz.
That whereas divers sums had been disbursed in public charges, as transporting of ministers and their families, ammunition, &c., which were not now to be valued to the undertakers, as being to remain
2 Here we take leave of the ven- erable patriarch of Dorchester, and have only to regret that he never came over to see the Colony, in whose welfare he took so early and deep an interest. Although he lived
at a distance of 120 miles from Lon- don, it has been seen that he fre- quently came up to attend the Courts of the Company. See an account of him on page 26.
115
PRIVILEGES OF THE OLD ADVENTURERS.
always to the Plantation ; and whereas many of the CHAP. servants, which were transported at extraordinary ~ III. charge, do not prove so useful as was expected, and 1629. so will not yield the undertakers any such benefit as Dec. 1. may answer their charge ; divers of the cattle and provisions likewise miscarrying, through want of ex- perience in the beginning of such a work, they could not find the said stock to remain clear and good (the debts discharged) above one third part of the whole sum which hath been adventured from the first to this present day ; which value, upon due examina- tion and long debate, was allowed by all the Court.
Whereupon it was propounded and agreed by the whole Court, that the old adventurers, (in lieu of this abatement of two-thirds of their adventures,) should have an addition of a double proportion of land, ac- cording to the first proportion of two hundred acres for £50; and that they should have liberty to put in what sums they pleased to be added to their former adventures, so as they subscribed the same before the first day of January now next following; and such as live in the country, remote from the city of London, to enter their subscriptions before the se- cond of February next ; and that any of the said adventurers may take out their adventures after the aforesaid rate ; and further, that it should be lawful for all other persons (with consent of any three of the undertakers) to put in what sums of money they please, to be traded in the joint stock, (upon such allowance to the common stock for public uses, in regard that they shall bear no part in the former losses,) as the said adventurers, or three of them, shall agree with them for, from time to time ; and
116
TEN UNDERTAKERS CHOSEN.
CHAP. III. that all adventurers shall pay in their adventures in such time and manner as shall be agreed between them and the said undertakers, or any three of them.
1629. Dec. 1. It was also agreed by the Court, that in regard the undertakers should bear the greatest charge and burthen, and all other adventurers should have equal part of the gain, if any did proceed, that therefore they should have £5 in the hundred clear gains of the said joint stock, both in and out, all charges be- ing deducted.
And that the joint stock being thus managed, at the end of seven years, (to be accounted from this day,) as well the said stock, as the proceed and pro- fit thereof, to be divided to every man proportionably, according to his adventure ; and all the said privi- leges then to cease, and all persons to be at liberty to dispose of their parts in the joint stock at their own pleasures.1
Hereupon the Court thought fit to desire the gen- tlemen hereunder named to undertake the joint stock upon the terms before propounded, viz.
MR. JOHN WINTHROP, the Gov. SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL, Knt. ISAAC JOHNSON, EsQ. MR. THOMAS DUDLEY,
MR. JOHN REVELL,
MR. MATTHEW CRADOCK,
MR. NATHANIEL WRIGHT, MR. THEOPHILUS EATON,
MR. THOMAS GOFF,
MR. JAMES YOUNG.
Which gentlemen, upon much entreaty of the Court, did accept of the said charge, and accordingly were chosen to be undertakers, to have the sole
i " We have no account of any any trade ever carried on for the dividend ever made, nor indeed of Company." Hutchinson, i. 13.
117
TRANSPORTATION OF PASSENGERS.
managing of the joint stock, with all things incident CHAP. thereunto, for the space of seven years ; as is afore- III. 1629. said.
And it was agreed to desire and nominate Mr. Al- dersey to be Treasurer for the said Company ; and that all moneys which shall come in to the joint stock, or that shall be given to the common stock, shall be paid unto him, and to be issued out upon warrant under the hands of the said undertakers, or any three of them, as occasion shall require.
It was also ordered by the Court, that the under- takers should provide a sufficient number of ships, of good force, for transporting of passengers, at the rate of £5 a person, and £4 a ton for goods; which shall be ready to set sail from London by the first day of March ; and that if any passengers be to take ship at the Isle of Wight, the ships shall stop there twen- ty-four hours ; and that all such as intend to pass over shall give in their names, with 40s. towards their freight, to one of the said undertakers abiding in London, in the Michaelmas term before, and shall deliver their goods on shipboard before the 20th of February following ; and shall give security for the rest of their freight, as they can agree with the said undertakers, either for money to be paid here, or for commodity to be delivered in the Plantation.
Further it was agreed, that for the transportation of children, this rate shall be kept, viz. sucking child- ren not to be reckoned ; such as under four years of age, three for one; under eight, two for one ; under twelve, three for two. And that a ship of 200 tons shall not carry above 120 passengers com- plete ; and so of other ships, after the same propor-
Dec. 1.
118
THE TRADE OF THE PLANTATION.
CHAP. tion. And for goods homewards, the freight shall III. be, for beavers £3 per ton, and for other commodi-
1629. ties 40s. per ton ; and such as will have their goods Dec. 1. assured, shall pay £5 per c.
Concerning the magazine, it is likewise agreed, that the undertakers should furnish the Plantation with all such commodities as they shall send for ; and the planters to take them off and retail them at their pleasure, allowing the undertakers £25 in the hundred above all charges, and the planters to have liberty to dispose of their part of the beavers at their own will ; and every man may fetch or send for any commodity for his own use, where or how he please, so as he trade not with interlopers, so long as he may be furnished sufficiently by the adventurers at the rates aforesaid.
Lastly, it is ordered, that in regard this Court could not set down particular direction for every- thing which may be fit to be considered and provid- ed for in all or any of the matters aforesaid, therefore the said undertakers should have power to meet and consult about the premises ; and what orders and directions they, or the greater number of them, shall set down, shall be accounted legal, and to be duly observed, until it shall be thought fit by this Court to alter or determine the same.
Provided always, that if those that intend to in- habit upon the Plantation shall, before the first of January next, take upon them all the said engage- ments and other charges of the joint stock, then the power and privileges of the undertakers to deter- mine, and all the trade, &c. to be free.
119
DEBATE ABOUT THE JOINT STOCK.
A General Court, holden at Mr. Goff's house, on the CHAP. III. 15th of December, 1629. Present, 1629.
MR. JOHN HUMFRY, Deputy,
Dec.
SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL,
MR. WILLIAM PINCHION, 15.
MR. MATTHEW CRADOCK,
MR. INCREASE NOELL,
MR. NATHANIEL WRIGHT,
CAPT. VENN,
MR. JOHN REVELL,
MR. THOMAS ADAMS,
MR. GEORGE HARWOOD, Assistants.
With divers of the Generality.
Mr. Deputy caused to be read the Acts and Or- ders made at the last General Court of the 30th of November ; which being of great consequence, as namely for settling the joint stock, and managing of the whole business, it was desired the same should receive confirmation by this Court. Upon debate whereof, some exceptions were taken by those who had doubled their adventures, conceiving themselves to be wronged in having both their sums drawn down to so low a rate as one third part ; alleging that the second sum was paid in upon a proposition of trade, which went not forward, and not as unto the joint stock for the Plantation.
This business received a large discussion, and Capt. Waller and Mr. Vassall were content to give the first £50 to the Plantation, so as their other £50 might go on wholly in this new stock. But foras- much as this concerned divers others who were in the same case, and that it could not be done without alteration of the Act made the 30th of November, which was done by a General Court, upon mature and deliberate consideration, and that the undertak- ers would not continue their said undertaking but
120
THE MINISTERS APPOINTED REFEREES.
CHAP. upon the same conditions, which were then pro- III.
pounded and concluded on,
1629. This Court, in conclusion, put it to the question, Dec. 15. and by erection of hands every particular of the former Court was ratified and confirmed. And the matter in difference with them who had doubled their adventures being no more to each of them than between £50 and £33 6s. 8d., was by mutual consent referred to the three ministers here present, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Nye, and Mr. Archer, who are to reconcile the same between the new undertakers and them.
1630. A General Court, holden at Mr. Goff's house, on Wed- Feb. nesday, the 10th of February, 1629. Present,
10.
MR. JOHN WINTHROP, Governor, MR. JOHN HUMFRY, Deputy, MR. ISAAC JOHNSON, MR. INCREASE NOELL,
MR. MATTHEW CRADOCK, MR. NATHANIEL WRIGHT,
MR. THEOPHILUS EATON, MR. JOHN REVELL,
MR. THOMAS ADAMS, MR. WILLIAM PINCHON,
MR. GEORGE HARWOOD,
With many others of the Generality.
Forasmuch as the furtherance of the Plantation will necessarily require a great and continual charge, which cannot with convenience be defrayed out of the joint stock of the Company, which is ordained for the maintenance of the trade, without endanger- ing the same to be wasted and exhausted, it was therefore propounded that a common stock should be raised from such as bear good affection to the Planta- tion and the propagation thereof, and the same to be employed only in defrayment of public charges, as
121
A COMMON STOCK TO BE RAISED.
maintenance of ministers, transportation of poor fam- CHAP. ilies, building of churches1 and fortifications, and all III. other public and necessary occasions of the Planta- 1630. Feb. 10. tion. And the Court do think fit and order that two hundred acres of land shall be allotted for every £50, and so proportionably for what sums shall be brought in by any to this purpose. And Mr. George Har- wood is chosen Treasurer for this account of the common stock, which he accepted of; who is to re- ceive all such money as shall be by any sent in, and to issue out the same upon warrant under the hands of any two or more of the undertakers. And it is further agreed on and ordered, that an Order be drawn up and published under the seal of the Com- pany, to signify and declare to what uses all such moneys as are given to the common stock shall be employed, and what land shall be allotted to each man that gives thereunto, as well for their satisfac- tion as the encouragement of others to so laudable and charitable a work ; and it was further taken into consideration, and ordered, that this allotment or division of land shall not prejudice the right of any the adventurers who are to have land, and have not yet the same allotted out. unto them, nor unto those whose land is already set out according to the former order and direction of this Court. Yet, nevertheless, it is further agreed, that if for good and weighty reasons, and for the benefit of the Plant- ation in general, there shall be occasion to alter any
1 Thus houses of public worship are also called churches, at the Court held Oct. 15th of the preceding year. See page 96. The word meeting-
house was a later innovation, which sprang up in this country, and ought to have been long ago sup- pressed.
122
SIR WILLIAM BRERETON'S APPLICATION.
CHAP. III. particular man's allotment, the said party is to have such due recompense for the same as, in the wisdom 1630. of the Governor and Company, there resident, shall be thought reasonable and expedient.
Feb. 10.
Motion was made on the behalf of Sir William Brewerton,1 who, by virtue of a late patent pretends right and title to some part of the land within the Company's privileges and Plantation, in New-Eng- land ; yet nevertheless he is content (intends)2 not to contest with the Company, but desires that a pro- portionable quantity of land might be allotted unto him for the accommodation of his people and ser- vants now to be sent over. Which request the Court taking into due consideration, do not think fit to enter into any particular capitulation with him therein, nor to set out any allotment of land for him more than the six hundred acres he is to have by virtue of his adventure in the joint stock, nor to ac- knowledge anything due unto him as of right, by virtue of his said patent, nor to give any considera- tion in case he should relinquish his pretended right; but they are well content he should join with them in the prosecution of this business, according to their Charter, and do promise in the mean time, that such servants as he shall send over to inhabit upon the Plantation, shall receive all courteous respect, and be accommodated with land, and what else shall be necessary, as other the servants of the Company. Which answer was delivered unto those that were sent from him ; and the Court desired also that Capt.
1 See note 2 on page 51. intends
2 In the original MS. thus- is content.
123
GRIEVANCES OF THE BROWNES.
Waller and Mr. Eaton1 would signify the Company's CHAP. affection and due respect unto him, he having written to them about this business.
A writing of grievances of Mr. Samuel and John Browne was presented to this Court, wherein they desire recompense for loss and damage sustained by them in New-England ; which this assembly taking into consideration, do think fit that upon their sub- mitting to stand to the Company's final order for ending of all differences between them, (which they are to signify under their hands,) Mr. Wright and Mr. Eaton are to hear their complaint, and to set down what they in their judgments shall think requi- site to be allowed them for their pretended damage sustained, and so to make a final end with them ac- cordingly.
Mr. Roger Ludlowe? was now chosen and sworn
1 Theophilus Eaton, the father of the Colony of New-Haven, was born about the year 1590, at Stony Stratford, in Oxfordshire, of which place his father was the minister. He was educated at Coventry, whither his father had removed, and at school formed an intimate acquaintance and friendship with John Davenport, son of the mayor of the city, whose parishioner he afterwards became in London, and at whose instigation he came to New- England. Eaton was a wealthy London merchant, largely engaged in business, and deputy-governor of the company of merchant adventur- ers that carried on the Baltic trade. So great was his judgment and ex- perience, gained by travel and prac- tice in affairs, that he was sent by Charles I. as his agent to the court of Denmark. In company with Da- venport he arrived at Boston, June 26, 1637, and on the 30th of March, 1638, they sailed with their associ-
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